Fall notebook: NFA, Killingly boys soccer teams advance in ECC tourney

Week 8 of the fall season featured a number of local soccer teams advancing in league tournament play and clinching division championships.

The Norwich Free Academy and Killingly boys soccer teams advanced to the Eastern Connecticut Conference tournament semifinals.

The Norwich Tech boys soccer team clinched its second straight Connecticut Technical Conference Charter Oak Division championship.

The Norwich Free Academy girls soccer team captured the ECC Division I regular season banner.

And Griswold’s Tycen LaBelle was the runner up at the Class SS divisional championship meet at Wickham Park.

The Norwich Bulletin has you covered for what's happening this fall at Norwich Free Academy, Killingly High School, Plainfield High School, Griswold High School, Norwich Technical School and Harvard Ellis Technical School.

Here are the highlights and top performances from Week 8:

Boys soccer

Norwich Free Academy advanced to the ECC Division I tournament semifinals with a 3-1 victory over Windham. Louis Hawkins netted two goals, Erick Portillo had one goal, and Jhon Lopez Choc added an assist for the Wildcats (10-6-1).

NFA meets Ledyard on Tuesday (6 p.m.) in the semifinals at Ledyard High School.

Earlier in the week, the Wildcats defeated Fitch, 3-0, on Senior Night. Hawkins netted two goals, Portillo had one goal, and Remington Walsh dished out two assists for NFA.

Lopez Choc had a goal and an assist, while Hawkins scored a goal in the Wildcats 5-2 non-league loss against Old Saybrook.

Killingly advanced to the ECC Division II tournament semifinals with a 2-0 victory over Wheeler. John Fitzgibbons collected one goal and one assist, Alec Basley had a goal, Joe Cozza added an assist, and goalkeeper Trent Pichie preserved the shutout with three saves.

Killingly meets Montville on Tuesday (6 p.m.) in the semifinals at Montville High School.

Earlier in the week, Pichie posted another shutout with three saves, and Fitzgibbons scored the game winning goal, off an assist from Cozza, as Killingly edged Lyman Memorial, 1-0.

In a Quiet Corner showdown, Landon LeSage, Christian Tremblay and Fitzgibbons netted one goal apiece, James Burgess contributed with one assist, and Pichie made three saves as Killingly topped rival Plainfield, 3-1. Gavin LaRose had a goal for the Panthers.

Plainfield got goals from Jake Taylor, Jace Arriaga, and Jahvar Green to edge Tourtellotte, 3-2.  Sebastian Reyes had an assist for the Panthers.

Plainfield completed a home-and-away sweep over Tourtellotte with a hard fought 1-0 win. Jahvar Green scored off an assist from Jace Arriaga in the 6th minute to lift the Panthers (5-8-1).

Michael George notched a hat trick and an assist as Norwich Tech clinched the CTC Charter Oak Division title with a 4-0 win over Grasso Tech. The Warriors finished undefeated in the CTC for the second consecutive season.

Lucas Weitknecht had a goal, while Roman McElwee and Hunter Jackson added assists for Norwich Tech- (12-1-3).

More: Norwich Free Academy girls soccer closes in on Eastern Connecticut Conference title

Girls soccer

Norwich Free Academy clinched the ECC Division I regular season title with a 3-0 victory over Stonington.

Chloe Green (unassisted), Brooke Bolles (unassisted), and Jordan Fabry, on a header off a corner kick from Emily Tucker, each netted second half goals, while goalkeeper Ava Boenig preserved the shutout with 10 saves for the Wildcats (12-2-2). It was NFA’s seventh consecutive win.

Earlier in the week, NFA edged Woodstock Academy, 2-0. Bolles collected a goal and an assist, Hayleigh Young had a goal, Fabry added an assist, and Boenig posted another shutout with four saves as centerbacks Hailey Iozzia and Leah Burchman keyed a defense that allowed the Centaurs just six shots.

Killingly goalkeeper Erika Horne had another huge performance with 25 saves but Killingly fell to East Lyme, 4-0, in the ECC Division I quarterfinals.

Griswold goalkeeper Hannah Service made 16 saves in the Wolverines’ 0-0 soluble-overtime draw against Lyman Memorial. The Wolverines are 4-9-2.

Hannah Ross had Norwich Tech’s only goal in a 2-1 loss against Grasso Tech.

Girls volleyball

Savannah Guernsey dished out 16 assists, Ginger Weston had 16 digs, and Emily Orcutt collected sven kills and five blocks as Norwich Free Academy defeated Montville, 18-25, 25-19, 26-24, and 25-22.

Kierra Neilson collected 10 kills, six blocks, and digs to lead Griswold past SMSA, 25-16, 25-13, 20-25, and 25-15. Abby Matheson had five kills, five aces, and 13 digs, Gretta Dombkowski had six kills, 11 digs, and three aces, and Ruby Logan had 14 digs and one ace for the Wolverines.

Killingly had a busy week, taking 2 of 3 contests.  Addison Montville had 42 assists, Emma Miller had four kills, and six blocks, Shanaya Brown had seven kills and Chloe Yip had 14 digs in Killingly’s marathon five-set loss against Wheeler.

Aaliyah Tucciarone had eight kills and four digs, Shyah Baker had 39 assists, Miller added three kills and four blocks, and Brown had eight kills to lead Killingly past Windham Tech, 3-1.

Killingly also swept Putnam, 25-17, 25-18, and 25-19 behind Yip (10 digs), Baker (10 assists), Emma Rainville (5 blocks, 3 kills), and Montville (13 assists).

Autumn Hanks collected 10 assists and two aces, Abby Ulrich had 12 kills and six aces, and Taylor Roberts had 24 digs to propel Norwich Tech (7-12) past Wheeler, 25-17, 11-25, 25-20, 14-25, and 16-14.

More: Griswold's LaBelle finishes second at ECC cross country championships

Cross-country

Griswold freshman Tycen LaBelle was the runner up at the CIAC Class SS boys state championship meet at Wickham Park in Manchester. LaBelle’s time was 16 minutes and 55 seconds. Suffield’s Griffin Mandirola finished first in 16:06.

Girls swimming

Norwich Free Academy junior Natalie Bezanson placed first in the 100 butterfly and 100 backstroke, and was also part of the winning 200 medley relay team to lead the Wildcats to a 71-60, non-league win over Suffield.

The Wildcats also got first place performances from Sawyer Levine (500 freestyle), Mercedes Aleksjuka (50 and 100 freestyle), and Catie Wigfield (200 freestyle), while Stephanie Herr joined Levine, Bezanson and Aleksjuka for the 200 medley Relay.

This article originally appeared on The Bulletin: Norwich Free Academy, Killingly boys advance to ECC semis,