Year after year the Branford field hockey team keeps on rolling under Hall of Fame coach Cathy McGuirk.
Last year McGuirk won her 500th game in the season opener 3 – 1 against Sacred Heart Academy. They finished 2014 with a 12 – 7 record. This year they ended with a record of 11 – 5‑2 – 1 in the tough SCC.
The Lady Hornets advanced to the SCC semi-finals this year before losing 2 – 1 to eventual champion Lauralton Hall. They qualified for the state tournament as well as the #10th ranked team but fell to #7 New Canaan 4 – 1 in the opening round.
Coach McGuirk’s win total is now a lofty 522 over a career that spans thirty-eight years. She started at Branford in 1977 and was inducted into the Branford Sports Hall of Fame in 1994.Here she is with her husband John McGuirk talking to the team during a timeout.
One of the team’s top performances this year was their game with Amity last month where they defeated the Spartans 5 – 0.
“We played pretty well against Amity,” coach McGuirk said. “Leading 3 – 0 at the half gave us a nice cushion going into the second half.”
LanLe Crotty (pictured)opened the scoring for the Lady Hornets at 19:06 of the first half. She scored on an assist from co-captain Carol Frye to make it 1 – 0.
Junior Kiersten Bjork (pictured) added a second goal at 16:14 with an assist from freshman Liante Claude. Crotty was named second team All Conference at the end of the season.
Carol Frye had a goal and 2 assists and was named first team All Conference at the end of the season. Here she watches her shot go in.
Senior Shannon Healy wrapped up the first half scoring with the third goal at 9:41 on an assist from Sabrina Torcellini.
The final two goals were scored in the second half by Carley Shea (pictured) on an assist from Bjork and Frye and by Frye who scored an unassisted goal to give the Hornets the 5 – 0 victory. Frye was selected first team All Conference.
Junior goalkeeper Keira Integlia (pictured) recorded a shutout stopping all Spartan shots on goal. She also was selected 2nd team All Conference for the SCC.
“We had nine seniors on this year’s club and they knew how to win,”McGuirk said. They have been to the semi- finals of the SCC tournament and qualified for the states all four years. I’m proud of them. They’ve provided good leadership for our younger players. Overall it’s been an excellent season and the kids improved all the time.” Here sophomore Autumn McHenry cuts around Haley Forcier #28 of Amity
###