Canton’s Leah Eschenbrenner, left and Emma Charron, right celebrate with Grace Giancola (9) after the Warriors beat Avon for the first time, 10-9 Monday.
AVON – Nearly a week ago, the Canton High girls lacrosse beat Granby for the first time in team history when sophomore Grace Giancola scored with four seconds remaining for a one-goal victory.
The Warriors collected a bigger prize on Monday. Giancola scored again in the final seconds to lift Canton to a thrilling 10-9 victory over Avon. It is Canton’s first-ever win over Avon, the three-time defending NCCC champions who advanced as far as the Class L semifinals the last two years.
“This is another signature win,” Canton coach Sean Cole said. “The Granby win was huge. But this one is probably even bigger.”
The win leaves Canton (6-2, 5-1 NCCC) in first place in the league with Avon (4-3, 3-2 NCCC), Granby (4-2, 3-2 NCCC) and Somers (5-2, 3-2 NCCC) each in a tie for second place.
“The feeling (of winning) is undescribable,” Giancola said. “I can’t tell how exciting this feels. (Avon) played a great as well. They kept us honest.”
The Warriors dropped a two-goal decision to Avon on opening day and saw that they could compete with the Falcons. Since then, Canton has won six of its last seven games. The only loss was a 16-5 loss at the hands of Fairfield Warde on Saturday.
“This team is learning the process of working hard. This is a good group of kids. They’re very young and they’re ready for success,” Cole said.
Avon’s Hannah Davey (7) attracts a crowd of Canton defenders in the final minute of Monday’s NCCC girls lacrosse game in Avon.
On the heels of a 16-4 loss to Glastonbury on Saturday, the Falcons played well. They took a 6-5 halftime lead with two goals in the final 3:41 of the half from Davey and Abbey Welch. They extended that to two on a Davey goal with 17:14 remaining in the game.
But Canton scored three unanswered goals from Olivia Sullivan (two) and Peyton Jackson with her first goal of the season to take a 8-7 lead with 11:57 remaining.
Avon’s Jess Woods scored with 5:22 remaining to tie the game at 9-9. The Falcons had two possessions to try and take the lead. They lost the ball on the first possession but got it back when Sammy Maniatty forced a Canton turnover. Davey took a nice shot with 1:23 remaining but the ball deflected off the stick of Canton goalie Amanda Gottlieb.
The Warriors took over and Giancola ended up with the ball in front of the Avon goal with about 30 seconds to go. She looked for openings and finally found one and scored with 19 seconds remaining to give the Warriors a 10-9 lead.
“It was crunch time and everyone on the team was working so hard,” Giancola said. “I just happened to be the one putting it into the net at the right time. They team kept pushing. It was a true team effort. They worked their butts off for 50 minutes.”
Avon had one last chance. The Falcons won the faceoff and Maniatty scooped up the ball and drove right to the Canton net. She popped the ball into the net but it was waved off because of a crease violation.
The Warriors celebrate as time runs out in Canton’s first-ever win over the Falcons, 10-9.
Giancola led the Warriors with four goals while Sullivan had two. Devon Daubert, Emma Charron, Carly Atkinson and Jackson each had individual goals. Canton goalie Amanda Gottlieb stopped 10 shots and played well.
Davey, who had seven goals in Avon’s 11-9 win over Canton earlier this month, had four goals and two assists. Maniatty had two goals. Falcon goalie Angela Marinello had an outstanding game, stopping nine Canton shots.
Avon coach Catherine Hanks said a few mistakes cost her team. “It was just a few errors due to communication breakdowns and not playing to the best of our ability in the final two minutes,” she said.
“We’re a team and we played our hearts out,” she said. “We’ll use this as a learning experience and use this for motivation in the (league) playoffs and state (tournament).”
It was the final regular season game between the two schools as conference foes. They could meet again in the NCCC Tournament in late May. Any future games would depend on openings for non-conference foes with Avon moving to the Central Connecticut Conference in September. Cole said he would be willing to face the Falcons next spring as a non-league contest.
The wind was blowing across the Avon High football field, chilling the spectators. But the Warriors were warm in the glow of victory. “They (Avon) are always that name, not that we look up to, but perhaps envy,” Canton’s Jacquie Grabowski said. “It’s good to beat them. It was our last chance to play them.”
“I’m speechless,” Sullivan said.
The Warriors are excited after their win over Avon.
Canton returns to action on Friday when they host Somers. Avon travels to New Fairfield Wednesday night for a 7 p.m. game under the lights before hosting Suffield at 4 p.m. on Friday at the high school.
Canton 10, Avon 9
At Avon
Canton (6-2) 5 5 — 10
Avon (4-3) 6 3 — 9
Goals: Grace Giancola (C) 4, Olivia Sullivan (C) 2, Carly Atkinson (C), Emma Charron (C), Devon Daubert (C), Peyton Jackson (C); Hannah Davey (A) 4, Sammy Maniatty (A) 2, Abby Welch (A), Abbey Hagan (A), Jess Woods (A); Assists: Daubert, Charron, Davey 2; Saves: Amanda Gottlieb (C) 10, Angela Marinello (A) 9
You must be logged in to post a comment Login