Avon High Field Hockey Snaps Granby's Win Streak at 33

Avon High field hockey head coach Terri Ziemnicki gave her players a simple task last week: write a paragraph that detailed an accomplishment that each one had achieved while associated with the program.

“I learned a lot about the girls,” Ziemnicki said Monday evening. “I learned that they did get it.”

Ziemnicki, whose Falcons were 5-0 at the time of the assignment, also learned that she and her coaching staff had to ratchet up the expectations they had on the team by holding practices that were even more focused and intense.

“We had a week off and we had a really good week of practice,” ZIemnicki said. “We raised the bar. It was good that Granby was the next team we were playing.”

The Falcons realized the fruits of their labor, at least for one game, on Monday when they defeated North Central Connecticut Conference rival and two-time defending state Class S champion Granby Memorial, the top-rated team in Connecticut, 2-1 in Avon in a rare Columbus Day match.

Maddy Riccardi and Caroline Schaefer scored goals for Avon (6-0), which ended the Bears’ consecutive victory streak, dating back to October 2009, at 33.

Leah Giuliano scored the lone goal for Granby Memorial, which outshot (9 to 3), and earned more penalty corners (11 to 7) than its Avon counterpart.

Granby Memorial dominated the first 15 minutes of action and nearly took the lead just five minutes into the game when Brooke Kumnick, off a feed from Haley Makuch, blistered a shot on the cage that required a spectacular save by Avon goalie Nicole Andrew.

But it was Avon that drew first blood with 10:40 left in the first half when Emily Arciero became a one-woman counterattack, slaloming through a tough Granby defense before sliding a pass off to Maddy Riccardi, who was positioned on the far post and tapped the ball in for a 1-0 lead.

“The first goal was a confidence boost for us,” Ziemnicki said. “[Arciero] is a great player.”

It was the first time that Granby Memorial (6-1) trailed all year. Rather than panic, however, the Bears continued to ply pressure to the Falcons’ back line.

Their hard work finally paid off with 2:35 left in the first half, when Guiliano leveled by poking a shot in off a ball sent in front by Makuch that was first knocked around by forward Morgan Malone.

“I think we just let up,” Ziemnicki said of Granby Memorial’s goal. “At half time, we got on each other.”

Avon came out of the half with renewed vigor, and Riccardi nearly bagged her second goal of the game early in the second half, as her shot beat Granby Memorial keeper Nicole Kuhnly, but was deftly cleared off the line by Mackenzie Brower.

On the other end of the field, Makuch lifted a high shot that Andrew stopped with a blocker to keep the score knotted at 1-1.

Both teams traded chances before Schaefer scored the go-ahead goal on a tip in at the near post with 9:25 left in the second half to give Avon a 2-1 lead.

“Earlier in the game, I missed a tip-in on the corner and everyone was yelling at me to get to the post,” Schaefer, a sophomore, said. “That’s my role.”

In a frantic final 10 minutes of the game, Granby Memorial dominated play, but couldn’t find the equalizer, as Andrew made another stellar save with 2:48 left.

“[Andrew] made three incredible saves,” Granby Memorial head coach Sandy Wickman Mason said.

When time finally ran out, members of the Avon field hockey team, as well as the Falcons’ football team, which were in attendance, streamed out onto the field in a mass celebration.

“It’s exciting,” Schaefer said. “They’re our rivals and we wanted to beat them really bad.”

“All I told the girls is it doesn’t matter who they’re playing, just play your best,” Ziemnicki added. “I told them to rise to the level and prove it to yourselves. Prove it to me. Prove it to the coaches.”

On the other end of the field, Wickman Mason credited the Falcons for handing the Bears their first defeat since Oct. 29, 2009, which, coincidentally, was also a 2-1 loss to Avon.

“I think Avon played really well,” Wickman Mason said. “They never gave up. They were fit. They played a good game.”

Wickman Mason said that the game revealed some weaknesses in her team, which had yielded just one goal in five previous matches.

“I didn’t think we fielded the ball really well today,” said Wickman Mason, who refused to cite her team having played just one game in 11 days prior to the Avon match as the reason for the loss. “There were breakdowns in the lines in the system. … The pace of the game was a great pace. We haven’t seen [that kind of pace] since the first game of the year. … One would think by looking at the stats that we dominated. But we didn’t on the scoreboard.”

Notes: The game was originally scheduled to be played on Oct. 4, but sloppy field conditions and rain forced officials to postpone the game until Monday afternoon. “My girls were disappointed,” ZIemnicki said. “The field was in horrific condition and then it rained. There was no way that game could be played anywhere.” … Avon’s victory avenged two overtime losses to Granby last season: 3-2 at home and 1-0 on the road.

Avon 2, Granby Memorial 1

Granby Memorial   1 0 1
Avon                     1 1 2

Goals: 1. Avon, Maddy Riccardi (Emily Arciero) 10:40, 2. Granby Memorial, Leah Giuliano 2:35, 3. Avon, Caroline Schaefer 9:25.

Saves: Avon, Nicole Andrew 9; Granby, Nicole Kuhnly 3

Penalty Corners: Granby 11, Avon 7