Community News for Lyme and Old Lyme, CT
OLD LYME — Old Lyme defeated Hale Ray convincingly today 7-0 in their home game opener.
Scoring for the Wildcats were Ali Kyle (two), Lauren Creagan, Emily DeRoehn (two), Lydia Tinnerello and Stephanie Mauro with assists from Kaylee Armenia (three), Mackenzie Machnik, Alexis Fenton and Katie Funaro.
Lyme-Old Lyme Volleyball Round-up
Sept. 16
Old Lyme lost to East Hampton, 11-25, 16-25, 18-25.
Taylor Thompson had five kills and two blocks, while Isabel Dean-Frazier had 13 assists.
Old Lyme is now 1-2.
For East Hampton Rachel Gardiner had 22 assists and 5 aces. Angela Mercaldi had 10 kills. Brooke Cuthbertson had seven aces and 11 digs.
Sept.14
Old Lyme claimed their first victory of the season by defeating Norwich Tech, 25-13, 25-21, 25-16.
Clair Wholean had eight assists and Maddie Cann had seven kills. For Norwich Tech,
Paige Phaneuf had eight digs and Joharys Perez-Rivera had 10 points and a single ace.
Sept. 12
LYME-OLD LYME — The Lyme-Old Lyme High School boy’s and girl’s soccer teams defeated their East Lyme counterparts Saturday evening at East Lyme High School.
Playing first, the girls won 1-0 with a goal scored by Kaylee Armenia unassisted. Sam Gray was in goal for Old Lyme and made eight saves.
In net for East Lyme was Grace Wargo with five saves.
Lyme-Old Lyme girls are 1-0-0 overall and 0-0-0 in the Shoreline Conference.
Following on the girl’s success, the Wildcat boys came out onto the field and also went home with a 1-0 victory after a goal by Michael Milazzo from an assist from Jesper Silberberg.
Ryan Tetreault was in goal for the Wildcats and notched 13 saves. Owen Brown was in goal for East Lyme and made three saves.
Lyme-Old Lyme boys are now 2-0-0 overall and 1-0-0 in the Shoreline Conference.
Old Lyme Boys Soccer opened their 2019-20 season at North Branford High School with a crushing defeat of the Thunderbirds by 10-0
A huge crowd of Old Lyme supporters came to the Mohegan Sun arena to cheer on their team. Photos by Lynn Fairfield-Sonn, Carol Frazier and Jack Collins.
Estimates of the number of Old Lyme fans who went to cheer on the boy’s basketball team at Mohegan Sun arena Sunday morning varied between 800 and 1,000. Even the commentator on the channel that was live-streaming the game noted, “There’s a lot of blue in the building,” adding for clarity, “I think the stadium is at least three-quarters blue.”
Prior to tip-off, Old Lyme engaged in their traditional motivational huddle.
For a small couple of towns like Lyme and Old Lyme, this was an amazing show of support and belief in this team and its coach, who just two short years ago found themselves on the wrong end of a 6-18 season.
The Old Lyme team stands proud while the national anthem plays before the game began.
Sadly, neither the team nor the fans saw their dreams come to fruition.
The teams were announced in the traditional manner.
Third-seeded Old Lyme were first out of the starting blocks storming to a 10-2 lead in a little over four minutes. Everything seemed to be going their way when top seeds Innovation woke up and by the end of the first quarter had overtaken the Wildcats by 12-10.
Junior guard Ray Doll with arms outstretched was in the thick of the on-court action.
Old Lyme never took the lead again falling to 23-30 by the half. Scoring became a real challenge for the ‘Cats who ended up achieving only a 25% success rate.
Coach Kirk Kaczor urges on his team.
But Coach Kaczor never gave up on his boys encouraging them all through the contest.
By the end of the game, Ray Doll and Brady Sheffield, who are both juniors, had scored 11 points each and Aedan Using, another junior, had contributed eight, but more significantly had also joined the elite group of Old Lyme players, who have scored 1,000 lifetime points. Doll and Using also respectively had eight and five rebounds while senior Liam Holloway notched a game-high five steals.
Action at the free throw line.
Innovation continued their formidable advance through the third and fourth quarters taking their lead to 20 clear points at 58-38 with 2:58 remaining on the clock. Old Lyme began to see the writing on the wall and heard the final buzzer with their heads held high but their hearts down low.
Leaping high to shoot, an Innovation player looks to score.
Thank you, Old Lyme boys and Coach Kaczor for such a great season. You have made our towns proud. You may not have won the state championship but you’ve rewritten the history books for the program by simply reaching the state final. We will always remember this outstanding team and their run to the Sun!
Congratulations … and see you next season!
Editor’s Notes: Special thanks to our photographers at the game, Lynn Fairfield-Sonn, Carol Frazier and Jack Collins.
Coach Kirk Kaczor (center) leads the traditional Old Lyme boy’s basketball team huddle at the start of a game..
There’s nothing like an Old Lyme team participating in a high school state final to stir the sleepy towns of Lyme and Old Lyme to their core.
Extrapolating from past performance when Don Bugbee’s girls played (and won) the Class S State basketball championship in 2009 — the first played at Mohegan Sun — a conservative estimate suggests that at least half of the population of Lyme and Old Lyme will set their alarms early this morning, may even skip church (or perhaps the Catholics among us went yesterday evening …) and head east across the state to the arena at Mohegan Sun.
One assumes that pretty much every self-respecting, current Lyme-Old Lyme High Schooler will make their way to the arena this morning whether on a school bus or under their own steam. The parents of the boys on the Old Lyme varsity basketball team may even go to see the team bus off from the school at some God-forsaken hour …
The basketball game tipping off at 10:30 a.m. in the arena at Mohegan Sun will be the focus of their attention until around noon.
In a packed arena with likely around 5,000 fans present, can Kirk Kavzor’s boys pull off a spectacular win and topple top-seeded Innovation to bring the CIAC Division V trophy home to Old Lyme?
These third-seeded Wildcats have already crushed all previous records by becoming the first team in program history to reach the final. Can they now — urged on by their fervent supporters aged from 1 to 92 — take it one step further and make their tiny hometown the proudest for miles around and win the title?
In an exclusive and extraordinarily revealing email interview with LymeLine.com, Coach Kaczor gave us the inside story on how this exceptional team has reached the point it is at today, saying, “Two years ago we were 6-14 and a program in disarray. The effort, attitude and culture were not anywhere near what I wanted it to be. We were selfish and undisciplined, and it reflected poorly on me as well as the school. We weren’t all that talented, but more importantly our attitude needed to change for our program to be successful.”
He continued, “Last year, we dedicated ourselves to improving both on and off the court. We made a move to work with a strong group of sophomores and asked the older kids to help bring them along and to provide a fostering culture that valued teamwork and discipline. “
Interestingly he pointed to some small things that have made a big difference in team culture, such as, “We made new rules about tucking in practice jerseys and sprinting to help out teammate or opponent that went down during the game. (You’ll see that during the game.)”
Kaczor concluded, “We had a great season. We finished 15-5 but lost in the first round of our league tournament. We entered the state tournament with a good seed but were beaten at the buzzer in the first round by Capital Prep. However, during that season we created a culture and brotherhood that carried into the summer, fall and then back to the winter.”
Turning to this season, Kaczor said, “Everything was in place to run for the Sun. I never said it, but the kids did. It was the elephant in the room. We knew we had the talent, effort, and attitude to get there.” He mused, “I just wondered if we could catch a break. There always seems to be a little luck involved.,” adding, “Things just fell into place for us.”
Commenting on the tournament itself, Kaczor reflected, “We’ve played three excellent and young teams so far. Beating a good Gilbert team in the second round. Avenging our only home loss (on senior night) to Morgan in the quarters. And this week, we beat a 16-4 Somers team that is really good.”
Kaczor ended with the words, “This season has been amazing in so many ways,” noting, “We just recently won the sportsmanship award presented by our Board 8 officials, as well.”
Let’s hope the season becomes a whole lot more amazing this morning! Good luck boys and Coach Kaczor … and GO WILDCATS!
Brady Sheffield shoots during Thursday night’s semifinal game against Somers. All photos by Emily Gerber Bjornberg.
Old Lyme defeated Somers 69-53 in last night’s semifinal game played at Maloney High School in Meriden. Junior Ray Doll was top scorer for the Wildcats with 24 points for the Wildcats while junior Aedan Using had 23.
Wildcat coach Kirk Kaczor watches as junior Aedan Using shoots during Thursday’s semifinal game.
The Wildcats will now meet top-seeded Innovation in the championship final on Sunday at 10:30 a.m. at Mohegan Sun Arena.
The Old Lyme bench anxiously awaits the next call to go on court.
Visit this link for game highlights by Peter Huoppi published Wednesday, March 13, on theday.com.
Aedan Using (#33) takes advice from Coach Kaczor during last night’s game. All photos by Emily Gerber Bjornberg.
Third-seeded Old Lyme romped to a 61-31 victory over #6 seeds Morgan last night in front of a boisterous, sold-out home crowd. The Wildcats now go straight into a CIAC Division V semifinal match-up tomorrow with second-seeded Somers at Maloney High School in Meriden. Tip-off is at 7 p.m.
Top-scorer across both teams was Old Lyme junior Aedan Using with 22 points, while Brady Sheffield notched 17 points and Ray Doll 10 for the Wildcats.
Coach Kirk Kaczor told LymeLine by email, “I’m really happy with the way we played against Morgan. We were able to avenge our only home loss this season.”
The Old Lyme gym was packed to capacity for the semifinal game.
He added, “Ray Doll did an excellent job running the point and getting the ball to Aedan Using and Brady Sheffield. He really got us going (tonight). When our guards (Brady, Ray, and Quinn Romeo) are in attack mode, we are pretty good.”
Asked about tomorrow’s game, Kaczor said, “We are excited for the chance to play in the semifinal vs. Somers. We know that only a few teams are left and are proud to be one of them. My understanding is that Old Lyme has never been to the final so we want to change that. We’ve been taking it one step at a time and we are thrilled with where we are now.”
The team receives some advice during a time-out.
The last time Old Lyme was in the semifinals was in 2013 when the team faced Capital Prep. In a gritty game, despite taking the lead in the third quarter, sadly the ‘Cats failed to clinch victory that night.
The other semifinal will see top-seeded Innovation play Old Lyme’s Shoreline Conference rival and No. 5 seed Valley Regional also at 7 p.m. at Bulkeley High School in Hartford.
Go Wildcats!
Aedan Using was top scorer against Gilbert Thursday night.
Seeded third in the CIAC Division 5 State Tournament, the Old Lyme boys’ basketball team bounced back into action Thursday evening after the disappointment of taking an overtime loss to Cromwell in the Shoreline Conference final March 1.
The Wildcats defeated #14 seed Gilbert 75-65. Aedan Using led all scorers with 25 points while Ray Doll, Quinn Romeo, and Brady Sheffield combined for 36.
Old Lyme now advance to the quarter-finals of the tournament, where they will face the sixth-seeded Morgan School of Clinton this evening. That game will be played at Old Lyme.
Morgan defeated Old Lyme 57-56 in the final game of the regular season
Maria Denya (left) and Britney Detuzzi both qualified Wednesday night for the New England Gymnastic Championship to be held Saturday.
Both Lyme-Old Lyme High School athletes competing in the CIAC State Open Gymnastics Championship held at New Milford High School Wednesday night qualified for the New England Championship being held Saturday in Hudson, Mass.
Britney Detuzzi’s scores were: Vault 8.75 Bars 8.05 Beam 8.65 (9th), Floor 9.3 (3rd), totaling 34.75 points and giving her 9th place in the All-Around, while Maria Denya’s score on the Beam was 8.55, placing her in the 10th spot. The top 10 in each event qualify for the New England Championship. Detuzzi will compete in the All-Around at the State Open while Denya will compete on the beam.
Stonington High School’s Hanna Laskey also qualified for New England Championship in the Vault.
The following weekend Detuzzi and Laskey will compete for ABC Shoreline Level 9 USAG Connecticut State Championships.
Coach Kirk Kaczor leads the traditional boy’s basketball team huddle at the start of quarter.
Second-seeded Old Lyme face top seeds Cromwell tonight in the Shoreline Championship game at 7 p.m. at Polson Middle School in Madison.
Cromwell are the only team to have beaten Old Lyme in the Shoreline Conference this season but that was a nail-biter of a game with the Panthers only winning by two last-second points.
Old Lyme coach Kirk Kaczor is eagerly awaiting tonight’s game. He told LymeLine exclusively “We’re really happy to play in the championship game. These kids have been working towards this for a long time. We know Cromwell presents a big obstacle but everything our kids have done has led us to this point.”
He stressed, “This is more than a team. We are a brotherhood. We don’t just play with each other we play for each other. We go in to tonight’s game knowing that we are ready.”
Old Lyme will be looking to Aedan Using (seen jumping in this file photo) for a high score tonight in their Shoreline semifinal game against Valley.
Second-seeded Old Lyme meets No. 3 seeds Valley Regional tonight in the semifinal of the Shoreline Conference, which will be played in the Lyme-Old Lyme High School gym.
The winners of tonight’s game will advance to the Shoreline championship game on Friday when they will face either top-seeded Cromwell or No. 5 seed Morgan at Polson Middle School in Madison. Cromwell and Morgan also play their semifinal tonight at Cromwell.
In the quarter-final played last Saturday, the Wildcats cruised past Portland 54-37. Junior Aedan Using scored 20 points and 11 rebounds to lead Old Lyme’s scoring while Quinn Romeo added 8 points, four steals and three blocks.
Go Wildcats!
Aedan Using (center) scored 10 points in Monday night’s game against Cromwell.
UPDATED 2/19, 2 p.m.: Sometimes when the stakes are at their highest, the game just doesn’t live up to expectations. This was not the case Monday night when the only two unbeaten teams in the Shoreline Conference faced each other.
In a thrilling game played in Cromwell’s packed gym, Old Lyme ended up losing the game 50-48, but played the game of the season to date. Down 13-7 at the end of the first quarter, 22-19 at the half, and still down 11 entering the fourth quarter, the Wildcats clawed back to take the lead with just under a minute to go. Cromwell quashed the advance however, scoring the final three points in the closing seconds.
The Wildcats join in their traditional huddle at the start of a quarter.
Asked by email how the game had unfolded, coach Kirk Kaczor told LymeLine.com exclusively,”We didn’t get off to the greatest of starts with eight turnovers in the first quarter. Cromwell played great and kept us out of sync.” He added, “Our kids played hard and they played for each other. That’s something we emphasize all the time.”
Responding to a question about the devastating end of the game, Kaczor noted, “Down 11 in the fourth quarter, Ray Doll, Quinn Romeo, and Aedan Using made some huge plays for us. Defensively, as a unit, we made some big stops and took the lead. I’m proud of the come-back effort.”
He concluded firmly, “We have to put this game behind us now and focus on Wednesday [the final game of the regular season against Morgan.]
Ray Doll finished with 14 points, Quinn Romeo scored 13 and Aiden Using added 10.
Old Lyme is now 16-3 overall and 16-1 in the Shoreline Conference, in which it will now be seeded #2.
It was all action tonight at the packed Cromwell High School gym when the Old Lyme Wildcats faced the Cromwell Panthers.
Cromwell ends the season unbeaten in the Shoreline Conference and will therefore be top seed. They finish the season 20-0 for the first time in 20 years.
Coach Kirk Kaczor, second from right, leads the traditional boy’s basketball team huddle at the start of quarter.
UPDATE: 2/18 at 7:31PM: Old Lyme down 7-13 to Cromwell at end of first quarter.
7:33PM: Old Lyme down 19-22 to Cromwell at half.
8:13PM: Old Lyme down 40-29 at end of third quarter.
On Friday night, Old Lyme chalked up yet another victory with a 54-39 win over Portland at the latter’s home gym.
Wildcat junior Aedan Using led all scorers with 17 points. Quinn Romeo contributed 11 while Ray Doll scored eight points and 10 rebounds.
The Wildcats remain unbeaten in the Shoreline Conference and advance to 16-2 in the season.
Tonight the ‘Cats face their biggest challenge of the year to date in the Shoreline Conference when they face Cromwell away. The unbeaten Panthers are not only shooting for their first 20-0 regular season in coach John Pinone’s long career but are also playing for the top seed in the CIAC Division IV tournaments.
The winner of tonight’s game, scheduled to tip-off at 7 p.m. at the Jake Salafia Gymnasium at Cromwell High School, will claim the top seed in the Shoreline Conference. Old Lyme is currently ranked second in the CIAC Division V.
The Wildcats face Morgan on Wednesday in the final game of the regular season, which will be played in the Lyme-Old Lyme HS gym.
Go Wildcats!
Aedan Using was the leading scorer with 21 points against Hale Ray last night.
Old Lyme notched another victory last night at Hale Ray winning by 66 points to 47, leaving them undefeated in the Shoreline Conference.
The Wildcats were led by junior Aedan Using, who scored 21 points and 11 rebounds.
Quinn Romeo added 16 points and 6 steals, while
Connor Hogan chipped in with 12.
The Wildcats are now 15-1 overall and 15-0 in the Shoreline Conference.
Chole Cahill of Old Lyme came third on the beam with 8.2 points and took third place in the floor exercises with 8.1 points.
In a game hyped as a ‘Shoreline Showdown’ between arch-rivals Old Lyme and Old Saybrook, anticipation was running high in the packed Old Lyme gym that those present would witness a game of the season. Were the Saybrook Rams going to avenge their two-point loss in the first game of the season to the still unbeaten (in the Shoreline Conference) Old Lyme Wildcats?
Twas not to be …
Riding high on a seven-game winning streak, the Rams opened solidly taking the lead a few times in the first quarter and staying level with the ‘Cats in points.
Then came a disastrous third quarter for the Rams when they watched as the ‘Cats went on an apparently unstoppable 17-point run … and that was pretty much that.
Old Lyme junior Aedan Using ended the game with 21 points, Olin Fredericks netted 16, while Brady Sheffield contributed 13.
For a full report and photos, read Mike DiMauro’s article on theday.com at this link.
Tonight, Kirk Kaczor’s Wildcats crushed the East Hampton Bellringers away 67-40. Junior Aiden Using, pictured above, led all scorers with a powerful 19 points while Connor Hogan contributed 13 vital points and eight rebounds.
Brady Sheffield notched 11 points along with eight steals and completing the tally of double-digit scoring was Jared Richie with 10 points.
Old Lyme is now 11-1 overall and 11-0 in the Shoreline.
Last Tuesday, Old Lyme soundly defeated Coginchaug 63-44. Employing the defensive tenacity of a five-person guard rotation comprising Brady Sheffield, Ray Doll, Connor Hogan, Quinn Romeo, and Liam Holloway, the Wildcats took control of the game at an early stage.
Brady, Jared Ritchie and Aedan Using combined to score a remarkable 47 points.
Mya Johnson, a senior at Lyme-Old Lyme High School, is the recipient of the Hank O’Donnell Female Athlete of the Year Award, named in honor of a former sports editor and columnist for the Waterbury newspapers whose career spanned 61 years. Johnson tallied 19 goals and 10 assists in 2018 to lead Old Lyme to its fourth straight Class S state soccer championship.
She was at her best in the big moment, scoring the Wildcats’ final five goals of the tournament, including a hat trick in a 3-1 semifinal win over East Hampton and both goals in the 2-1 state title victory over longtime powerhouse Immaculate.
Trailing by a goal in the finals, she tied the score by booting home her 100th career goal, then converted the game-winner for number 101.
The list of Johnson’s awards and accolades is remarkable, reflecting her exceptional talent. She was named an All-New England player in 2018 and 2017, and selected in 2018 as The Day’s All-Area Girls’ Soccer Player of the Year and named to the Class S All-State Team both for the third time.
Johnson, who is also an outstanding artist, will continue her career close to home next fall at Connecticut College.
Harry Stanton, a 2018 graduate of Wesleyan University in Middletown and three-time college All-American lacrosse player, will receive the Bill Lee Male Athlete of the Year Award, named after a longtime sports editor and columnist who wrote for the Hartford Courant for nearly half a century.
Stanton, a former three-sport athlete at New Canaan High School, led Wesleyan to the school’s first-ever team national championship, an 8-6 win over Division III power Salisbury at Gillette Stadium. Stanton netted two goals and added an assist in the championship contest to earn Most Outstanding Player honors.
Johnson and Stanton will be honored at the 78th Gold Key Dinner on Sunday, April 28, at the Aqua Turf Club in Southington. Gold Key Award recipients for 2019 are former college and pro basketball standouts John Bagley and Chris Smith, longtime NFL coach and Super Bowl champion Chris Palmer, St. Thomas More basketball coach Jere Quinn and ESPN founder Bill Rasmussen.
The Gold Key Dinner was inaugurated in 1940, with baseball legend Connie Mack and golf superstar Bobby Jones among the initial recipients. The roster of honorees since then reads like a Who’s Who of Connecticut sports – Joe Cronin, Julius Boros, Willie Pep, Andy Robustelli, Lindy Remigino, Floyd Little, Joan Joyce, Carmen Cozza, Otto Graham, Calvin Murphy, Joe Morrone, Gordie Howe, Bill Rodgers, Tony DiCicco, Geno Auriemma, Rebecca Lobo, Brian Leetch, Kristine Lilly, Marlon Starling and Dwight Freeney are just a few of the past Gold Key winners. A complete list is available at www.ctsportswriters.com.
Tickets to the Gold Key Dinner are $75 apiece, and may be reserved by contacting CSWA President Tim Jensen of Patch Media Corp. at tim.jensen@patch.com or 860-394-5091.
Proceeds from the event benefit the Bo Kolinsky Journalism Scholarship, named after a longtime Hartford Courant sportswriter and past CSWA president who died unexpectedly in 2003.P
