CIAC girls lacrosse tournaments, what we learned in the first round

Holding serve

Higher-seeded teams had their way in the first round, with 21 of 24 home teams advancing. There were just three seeded upsets and two of those were No. 9s beating No. 8s, as Simsbury defeated Amity-Woodbridge 12-7 in Class L, and Farmington defeated Ellington 8-6 in Class M. The lowest seed to advance was in Class M where No. 11 Branford tipped No. 6 Joel Barlow-Redding 10-9. The top eight seeds all won in Class S.

Conference breakdowns

Among the leagues with teams moving on, the SWC was the big winner, with six advancing to the quarterfinals: No. 6 Newtown in Class L; No. 4 Pomperaug, No. 5 Masuk and No. 11 Brookfield in Class M; and No. 1 Weston and No. 2 New Fairfield in Class S.The FCIAC and SCC each have five teams remaining – all five FCIAC teams are in Class L, while the SCC has three in Class M. The ECC and NCCC advanced three teams apiece, and the CCC had two winners.

Champs still defending

All three defending state champions had decisive wins on Tuesday, with No. 2 New Canaan (Class L), No. 3 Guilford (Class M), and No. 2 New Fairfield (Class S) all winning by double digits. New Canaan pitched an 18-0 shutout against No. 15 Glastonbury, with six players scoring multiple goals. That included a hat trick from Maddie Tully and two goals apiece from Devon Russell and Lexie Tully. New Canaan will host SCC champ and No. 7 seed Cheshire in Friday’s quarterfinals. Guilford defeated No. 14 Waterford 15-4 behind a six-goal performance from junior Payton Root, a James Madison commit. Senior MJ Santa Barbara scored four for the Grizzlies, who host No. 11 Branford in the quarters on Thursday. New Fairfield had a 19-2 romp over No. 18 Northwest Catholic-West Hartford. Brenna Romanello had three goals and four assists and Julia Nitti had four goals and one assist for the Rebels, who host No. 7 Bacon Academy-Colchester in a quarterfinal game on Thursday.

Newtown remains perfect

Newtown, the sixth seed in Class L, slipped past No. 11 Fairfield Ludlowe 11-10 in a tight game. The Nighthawks (20-0) had a seven-goal effort from Summer Harrell, a Penn State commit. Harrell scored Newtowon’s final goal to make it 11-9 with 6:43 remaining. Ludlowe scored with three minutes to play but the Nighthawks’ defense held the Falcons the rest of the way. Newtown, ranked sixth in the state coaches poll, will play at third-ranked Wilton in the quarterfinals at 7 p.m., Thursday.

SWC showdown

Masuk-Monroe and Pomperaug-Southbury have split two games this season and will have a survive-and-advance third meeting in the Class M quarterfinals at 5 p.m., Friday, in Southbury. Fifth-seeded Masuk defeated last year’s runner-up, No. 12 St. Joseph-Trumbull, 11-6 in the first round behind a terrific effort from Sam Henry. The junior had 10 draw controls, three goals, one assist and four caused turnovers, and Lily Cameron and Charlotte Pinto each had a hat trick. Fourth-seeded Pomperaug rolled to a 19-9 win over No. 13 Avon in the first round.

East Lyme eliminates Foran

ECC champion East Lyme, No. 1 in Class M,  continued its spectacular season with a 19-6 win over No. 16 Foran-Milford. Gianna DiLoreto netted five goals and Dani Bruno had three goals and three assists to lead the attack, with Meg Nagle and Izzy Pazzaglia also scoring hat tricks. East Lyme, now 18-1 with an eight-game win streak, will host No. 9 Farmington at 5 p.m., Friday.

Cheshire keeps winning

Class L’s No. 7 seed Cheshire won its first SCC championship since 2014 on May 24, and didn’t skip a beat with a 14-10 victory over No. 10 Southington in the first round. Stella Tessier scored five goals and Ava Harris had three goals and one assist for the Rams, who trailed 3-1 in the first quarter but came back to take an 8-5 lead at halftime. Cheshire will now face another group of Rams, when they play at No. 2 New Canaan in the quarterfinals at 7 p.m., Friday.

Weston rebounds

The Class S top seed Weston defeated No. 17 Lewis Mills-Burlington 16-2 in the first round, rebounding from their SWC semifinal loss to New Fairfield. Kayla Schiffer collected seven goals, one assist and three draw controls; Hannah Cross had two goals, one assist and seven draw controls. Sarah Zwack had five goals and two assists; and goalie Cristina Love made nine saves. The Trojans are aiming for their first state title since 2013 after finishing runner-up to New Fairfield in 2017 and 2021. They’ll next host No. 8 Somers at 5 p.m., Friday.

Freshman stars for Somers

Speaking of Somers, the No. 8 seeded Spartans had a seven-goal effort from freshman Maya Skalski, and six goals from senior Brooke Stevens while beating No. 9 Lauralton Hall-Milford 16-9. Lauralton Hall was last year’s Class S runner-up. Somers’ win also included 13 saves from senior Elena Riggins.

Simsbury road warriors

Ninth-seeded Simsbury picked up one of the only road victories in the first round when it defeated No. 8 Amity 12-7. The Trojans had five goals and one assist from senior attack Elena Bintatibus, and 10 saves from senior goalie Faye Kaplinski, and senior Reece Wilison reached a career milestone with her 100th career goal. Simsbury’s reward is now a showdown against Darien, the nation’s No. 1 team, in the quarterfinals at 4 p.m., Thursday.

Brookfield cruises into quarters

Class M No. 7 seed Brookfield won its first-round contest against No. 10 Suffield by double digits, 19-7. Two seniors led the way, as Shannon Ackerly had a huge game with seven goals and three caused turnovers