Boys Golf Has Strong Week, Track & Field Teams Off to Good Starts; Plus: Boys, Girls LAX

Boys Golf (4-2, 3-2):

The Bobcats' nice start to the season got even nicer this week when they came up with two big wins.  For the second time this season, Brookfield defeated rival Immaculate, this time on their home course of Sunset Hills by the score of 177-182.  The boys followed that result up with their most impressive win of the season, a 155-175 victory over Newtown in a match also played at Sunset Hills.

Sophomore Scott Martin was the low man in the victory over the Mustangs.  He led the team with a round of 41.  Junior Steve McGorty was right behind Martin with a round of 42.

Junior Dan Flood led a group of three Bobcats with rounds in the 30s in the win over the Nighthawks.  Flood led all golfers with a 1-over par 36.  Martin shot a 38 and junior Tom Juliano shot a 39 to help hand rival Newtown (5-2, 4-1) their first conference loss of the season.

Brookfield 177, Immaculate 182 (Sunset Hill Golf Course, par 35) —

Brookfield: Scott Martin 41, Dan Flood 46, Tom Juliano 52, Steve McGorty 42, Kevin Keefe 48.

Immaculate: Brian Herlihy 40, Greg Kozlowski 45, Connor Case 43, Dan Harrison 58, Cole Case 54.

Brookfield 155, Newtown 175 (at Sunset Hill, par 35) —

Brookfield: Scott Martin 38, Dan Flood 36, Steve McGorty 42, Tom Juliano 39, Joe DiGirolamo 47.

Newtown: Rob Marona 42, Brian Leblanc 46, Chris Erickson 43, Vivek Tedla 44, Nick Wright 48.

Track & Field:

The boys and girls Track & Field teams are both off to strong starts to the season, with the boys being undefeated and the girls having only one loss after two meets.

The boys team improved their record to 5-0 this week when they outpointed both Bethel and Oxford in a meet held at the home of the Wildcats.  Earlier in the season the team won a meet held at New Fairfield against the Rebels, Notre Dame-Fairfield and Stratford.

The girls outscored Bethel but fell to Oxford in a meet held at home after sweeping an earlier meet with New Fairfield, Notre-Dame-Fairfield and Stratford to move their record to 4-1.

In the meet at Bethel, the boys were led by a trio of seniors who took home multiple first place finishes.  Christopher Ackell took the top spot in Javelin, Shot Put and Discus, Kirk Gardner won the 110 Hurdles, Triple Jump and Pole Vault while Spencer Mannion outran the competition in the 1600 and the 800.  Senior Jack Gernert took first place in the High Jump.

Mannion won the 1600 and 800 as well as the 3200 in the meet at New Fairfield earlier in the season.  Gardner won the 110 Hurdles and the Triple Jump in that meet while Ackell won all three of his field events.  Senior Tyler Appleby won the High Jump in the meet.

The Lady Bobcats had eight first place finishes in their meet this week.  They were led by sophomore Djenne Parris who won both the 400 and 200 Dash.  Junior Angela Berardi took first place in the Javelin, sophomore Hannah Lyon was fastest in the 1600, senior captain Ailleen Tobin placed first in the 800 and junior Nicole Clayton was tops in the High Jump.  They also had the top Long Jumper (Bradshaw) and the fastest 4x100 relay team (Navarro, Mills, Weiner, Morton).

Both teams also competed at the 31st annual O'Grady Relays held at Danbury High School on Saturday.

Lacrosse:

The Lady Bobcats exacted a bit of revenge Staurday morning when they returned the favor of defeating the Lady Wildcats at Bethel by the score of 16-12.  Brookfield had lost to Bethel at home in their second game of the season but have now won five of six games since starting 0-2 to improve their record to 5-3, 4-3.

"We were still learning how to work together," Brookfield head coach Kary Rodgers said of her young team's first meeting with Bethel.  "We really are coming together.  They are doing a great job, we really picked it up.  We came out strong in the beginning and finished strong, we played well."

The senior scoring duo of Kathryn Marron and Emily Leonard combined for 11 goals in the game, with Marron scoring six to Leonard's five.  Marron also added six assists as she filled up the stat sheet.

The game was tight through the first half and into the second as the teams were only separated by one goal with under 15 minutes remaining.  Leading by the score of 10-9, Brookfield got some breathing room when Shannon Gruda scored one of her two goals.  Marron then scored off a feed from Leonard at the 13:00 minute mark for a three goal lead.

Bethel quickly responded by scoring two goals in nine seconds to cut the lead back down to one goal.  Brookfield answered by scoring four straight goals to pull away.  Marron scored two goals in the run, Jenna Bellano added her lone goal of the game and Leonard capped off the scoring with her fifth of the day.

Strong defense helped lead to the final outburst.  Gruda made a nice steal and assist on one of Marron's goals and goalkeeper Kelly Grady stood tall in net making numerous big saves down the stretch.  Grady finished with 10 saves in the game.  The team was also active in the field of play, getting seven ground ball controls each from Leonard, Brooke Sands, Carolyn Marron and Katie Serio.

Sands and Kelsey Zimmerer rounded out the scoring with a goal each.

The boys team came away with a nail-biting 11-10 non-conference win at home over Trumbull on Wednesday to move their record to 4-4, 3-3.  It marked the third straight one-goal game the Bobcats played and fourth of the season.