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On Campus: Former Brookfield Athletes Seeing Success at WestConn

Women's Lacrosse and Swimming has reached new heights with help of BHS alumni.

The Lady Bobcats lacrosse team has long been a winning program, producing 15-plus win seasons for the past four years after reaching the ultimate goal of winning the Division II State Championship in 2007.  The girls swimming and diving team has been on the rise in recent years, producing their most successful season in school history this past season with a runner-up finish at the and placing third at the .

A handful of athletes from those winning teams have moved on to collegiate careers and are now making their mark on the Western Connecticut State University athletic program.

Beth Magin, who competed in both lacrosse and swimming for Brookfield, is now a freshman at WestConn, where she has continued her career in swimming.

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Magin helped lead the Lady Colonials to a 6-3 regular season dual-meet record and a best-ever third place finish at the Little East Conference Championship.

Magin, in what could be termed a breakout freshman season, took first place in 13 different individual events throughout the year.  She was also part of six different relay team victories, as the 200 Medley Relay team won five times on the season earning them All-LEC honors.

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Magin showed diversity by competing in the 50, 100 and 200 Yard Backstroke, 50, 100, 200 and 1000 Yard Freestyle and the 200 Individual Medley, touching the wall first at least once in every event she competed in.

At the LEC Championship she finished third in the 100 Free, fourth in the 50 Free, fifth in the 200 Free and was part of the second place 200 Medley Relay team.

At the New England Championships the Lady Colonials finished sixth with Magin being a part of two school-record breaking relay runs.  She was part of the fifth place finishing 800 Free Relay and 400 Free Relay teams, with the 400 team shattering the previous record by over five seconds.  She was part of the fourth place finishing 200 Medley Relay team.  Individually she helped earn the team points by placing eighth in the 50 Free and fifth in the 100 Free.

At the conclusion of the season, the Lady Colonials were named to the College Swimming Coaches Association of America Scholar All-America Team as they posted a 3.11 cumulative grade point average for the Fall 2010 Semester.

Although Magin chose to concentrate on swimming and not lacrosse at WestConn, some of her former teammates have stuck with the stick-handling sport. The 2011 spring season is underway at WestConn and a trio of former Lady Bobcats are helping build on the success a pair of Brookfield natives have left behind.  

Former Lady Bobcat Kara Kruczkiewicz and former Lady Mustang and Brookfield native Cathryne Hunton were senior captains a year ago for a WestConn team that finished 10-6. The success of a season ago prompted the Lady Colonials to be voted to finish second in the LEC pre-season coaches poll.

Kruczkiewicz was voted to the All-LEC All-Star team a year ago, where she was joined by another former Lady Bobcat, Lauren Poppe. Poppe, who is now a junior at WestConn, was also voted to the ECAC Division III New England All-Star team.

Poppe and former Lady Bobcat Nicole Perrone, who was the team's leading point-scorer as a freshman a year ago, have been joined this season by former Brookfield captain, defender Emily Assad.

Perrone has picked up where she left off a year ago when she tallied 45 goals to go along with 10 assists. Just eight games into the season, Perrone has already netted 31 goals to go along with seven assists.  She led WestConn to opening wins in their first two games by scoring six and five goals apiece.  Her totals led her to be named the LEC Offensive Player of the Week.

Perrone, who scored 79 goals as a senior for Brookfield, missed the Lady Colonials third game and then returned to score seven goals over the next two, earning her the LEC Offensive Player of the Week award for a second time. Most recently she exploded for 10 goals in a win over Framingham State.

Poppe, who was also a captain as a sophomore and maintains the "C" on her jersey, is also off to a strong start.  She is second on the team with 11 assists and 10 goals.

Assad is still looking to make her mark but for now is waiting her turn as a freshman on a talented team.

Former Brookfield head coach Jaime Williams returned to WestConn last year as an assistant coach, a job he held down for four years previous to his two year run for the Lady Bobcats.  His familiarity with the Brookfield program has led to the recent enrollment of some of the team's top players.

WestConn is currently 4-4, 0-1 as they have just begun league play.  They have eight games remaining before the post-season begins, including a match-up with in-state rival Eastern Connecticut State University (ECSU) in the second-to-last game of the year.

The Lady Warriors are led by another former Lady Bobcat stand-out, Ashley Prizio.  Prizio, who scored 81 goals while handing out 47 assists as a senior at Brookfield after being named tournament MVP when she led the team to the state title as a junior, is in her junior year at ECSU.  She is currently tied for the team lead with 17 goals on the season.

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