Colonel Girls' Sports On Rise Again

Though many parents and some media may beg to differ, winning isn't everything in scholastic sports.

So when the Ledyard High girls' athletic program went through a stretch from 2000 on of lagging behind its ECC Large "peers" such as NFA, Fitch, East Lyme and Waterford in terms of division titles, state tourney appearance and overall success, there was not a congressional task force assigned to study the issue.

But former athletic director Pete Vincent and female coaches did acknowledge the teams were not repeating the success of past decades. Ledyard won five softball state titles in the '90s for example. A few meetings were held to devise ways to make girls' programs more competitive. The proactive steps to prevent cellar finishes are yielding results.

The girls' soccer and basketball teams have reach state playoffs in the last three seasons. And this spring, three Colonel girls' teams enjoyed standout campaigns, outshining their male counterparts if you are keeping score.

Girls' lacrosse won the ECC Small Division and is 11-4 overall. Girls' tennis placed second in the ECC Medium by just one game and posted a 10-5 record. Girls' track and field finished fifth in the ECC title meet, set a league record in the 4x100 relay and spawned a freshman phenom in the process.

While NFA (all sports), Fitch (softball, volleyball), Waterford (softball, basketball, soccer) and East Lyme (track, lacrosse, basketball, tennis) have largely dominated Ledyard, keep in mind the Colonels are the smallest school in the Large.

There's no coincidence that lacrosse and tennis thrived in smaller divisions. Next season, Ledyard will be shifted to the Medium where it belongs population wise.

Based solely on numbers, Ledyard is overmatched in the Large. Lacrosse coach William Glenn points out, "we're in the Class M tournament by virtue of having four girls over the cutoff to be in Class S.'

The Colonels, whose 11-4 record is its best since 2003, would fare better in Class S, but landing in the tourney for the second straight season and winning the Small is testimony to its upswing.

The tennis team fell a game short of winning the ECC Medium. Division favorite Windham paid back the Colonels for an earlier loss on May 20 to clinch it. Challenging for a title, though, makes this one of the tennis team's best seasons in decades. The squad hasn't sniffed .500 for many seasons, boasting only ECC singles champ Joana Sun (2008, 2009) as its symbol of excellence recently.

"The girls love playing the game," coach Scott said. "The girls' attitudes are tremendous as far as practice goes. Even when they had a losing season, which was every other season I remember, they were good kids. The most important thing in my mind is that they're out here playing, enjoy playing and want to get better. The record is icing on the cake."

In two years, Glenn has seen the lacrosse team progress from a perennial losing team to 9-8 last year and 11-4 heading into post-season. The Colonels (7-1 ECC Small) qualified for their first ECC Tournament since 2001 (only four teams played lacrosse). Ledyard plays at Waterford 5 p.m. Thursday in the semis. Making the ECCs "is a huge step for the program," Glenn said.

Ledyard's track team features some of the school's most talented athletes, male or female. Freshman Chenoa Sebastian turned the ECC on its ear by winning indoor and outdoor track hurdle titles in her first year in the sport. Emily Loy, Allie Loy, Kaylyn Bruciati and Sebastian set the 4x100 relay ECC and school record. Natasha Griffith finished second in the shot put and discus.

"NFA beat us in the 4x100 during the season, so to pay them back and set the school and ECC record is just so exciting," Emily Loy said.

Excitement is coming back to Ledyard girls' sports. And with the shift to the ECC Medium in most sports next year, seasons like lacrosse and tennis enjoyed this year may become commonplace rather than a refreshing change.