ADs confirm that Avon, Granby share NCCC championship in field hockey

Granby’s Abigail Phillips, right, breaks up a pass from Avon’s Emily Stross in a NCCC contest in Avon during September.

A week after the regular season was completed, athletic directors from the North Central Connecticut Conference confirmed in a meeting that Avon and Granby are league co-champions in field hockey and established the criteria for determining the league title.

Granby beat Avon, 2-1 in September and the Falcons beat Granby, 3-2 in overtime on October 23. Granby tied the game with no time left on the clock forcing it into overtime where Avon scored 1:30 into the extra session to earn the victory.

There was confusion on how the NCCC was awarding points to determine the league champion. Teams earn two points for a win and one point for a tie.

However, the CIAC has a slight twist in how they award points to schools attempting to qualify for the state tournament. Teams get two points for a win, one point for a tie and one point for losing a game in overtime.

Was the NCCC awarding points for just for victories and ties or would a team get a point for an overtime loss? And why was this important?

If you gave Granby a point for an overtime loss to Avon, they would have finished the NCCC campaign with an 11-0-0-1 record for 23 points. Avon finished 11-1 in the league for 22 points.

Alan Walker, chair of the field hockey committee in the NCCC, said that the league’s athletic directors determined that field hockey champion would be determined by winning percentage of actual wins, losses and ties of league games only and not by the seeding process used by teams to qualify for the CIAC field hockey team.

So, Avon and Granby both finished the NCCC campaign with 11-1 records and as league co-champions.

Avon, which is leaving the NCCC for the Central Connecticut Conference next fall, won a share of the NCCC championship in each of the last four years. Avon has won the NCCC championship or a share of it in five of the last six years. Granby won a share of its first NCCC field hockey crown since 2010.

The CIAC began using their policy of awarding one point for an overtime loss in field hockey in 2005 to help teams earn additional points to qualify for the state tournament.

Avon advanced to the semifinals of the Class M tournament losing to eventual state champion Hand-Madison while Granby advanced to the finals of the Class S tournament where they lost to Lewis Mills, 3-0.

2014 NCCC field hockey standings
Team         Lg     Pts.  Overall
Avon          11-1    22   12-2-1
Granby      11-1    22   13-1-0-1
Stafford       7-5    14    7-7
Suffield     5-6-1   11     8-5-1-2
Canton        5-7    10    7-8-0-1
Enfield      4-7-1     9     5-8-2-1
Somers     0-12      0     0-16
CIAC tournament results not included.