Healthy Avon girls lacrosse team handles Granby for 7th straight win; Avon boys still undefeated

Avon senior Hunter McCarthy

GRANBY, April 30 – There is no arguing the impact of three players on the Avon High girls lacrosse team. Playing without the services of Hunter McCarthy, Britt Douglas and Riley Hagan due to injuries, the Falcons fell to a hungry Granby High squad on April 12. 

The visiting Bears beat Avon by four goals, limiting Avon to just one goal in the final 20 minutes of the contest and scoring six of their own. 

But with McCarthy, Douglas and Hagan, the Falcons are a different team. The three senior players combined for 12 goals as Avon won its seventh straight game with a decisive 17-8 decision over Granby at Ahrens Park Tuesday afternoon. 

“It certainly makes it difficult for the other team to defend when they don’t know who to defend,” Avon coach Sean Cole said of having McCarthy, Douglas and Hagan in the lineup. Double-teaming one player leaves another with room to work, maneuver and jump start the offense. 

It wasn’t easy for the Falcons, now 8-2 on the season and 7-1 in the NCCC. Avon led 5-3 at halftime and Granby (7-2, 6-1 NCCC) scored the first two goals of the second half to tie the game at 5-5. But from that point, the Falcons scored six straight goals to seize command. 

“I think the girls looked at how poorly we played in the first half and they recognized we are capable of playing better,” Cole said. 

Avon allowed just three Granby goals for the remainder of the game. Senior captain Haley Graff, Ali Condon and defensive midfielder Kaylan Conrad played exceptionally well in the second half for the Falcons. Goalie Paige Hammick had eight saves in net.

McCarthy, Hagan and Douglas scored four goals each for Avon. Sammy Maniatty had two goals while Victoria Ziroli, Conrad and Graff each had single goals.

Cole knows that his team will need to play better when they challenge Simsbury at home on Wednesday afternoon at 4 p.m. 

“If we play like we did in the first half today, Simsbury will make us pay and we’ll be in a deep hole,” Cole said. 

Simsbury (6-1) throttled Joel Barlow on Tuesday, 19-2. Avon beat Barlow by four, 14-10 on the first weekend of the season. “They’re loaded,” Cole said of Simsbury. “Our kids are looking forward to the challenge. They’re going to be a bonafide test.” The only loss for Simsbury was a one-goal loss to Ridgefield, 14-13, early in April. 

Five Avon players have scored at least 15 goals, led by Douglas with 28 goals despite missing four of 10 games so far this season. McCarthy has missed three games and has 24 goals. Hagan has scored 18 goals with sophomore Sammie Maniatty scoring 15. Maggie Magrini has 12 goals. 

BOYS LACROSSE
Avon 7, Granby 4
AVON, April 30 – Goalie Cameron Dowd made 16 saves in hit to help the Avon High boys lacrosse team remain undefeated with a win over Granby. The Falcons, off to the best start in the program’s history, improve to 9-0 and 6-0 in the NCCC. 

“We played well in the first half,” Avon coach Scott Kossbiel said. “We took too many penalties in the second half. It affected our play. We were fortunate to win this one. Our defense played well.”