The New Canaan girls U13 Red soccer team defeated the Norwalk NJSA Jaguars 8-0 on Saturday to advance to Sunday’s championship game where they beat rival Wilton 3-0 to win the A/B Division SWD District crown.
New Canaan finished the season undefeated at 7-0-1 with a league-leading 30-4 goal differential.
The game against Norwalk was never in doubt. Freia Mierendorf opened the scoring 10 minutes into the game, the first of her three-goal hat trick afternoon, and New Canaan took a 3-0 lead into halftime.
Kendall Curtin and Kelly Conheeney’s stellar goaltending, coupled with the league-leading defense anchored by Eliza Farley, Zoe Jones, Nicole LaBadie and Leigh Charlton kept a handful of Norwalk tries off the scoreboard. In addition to Mierendorf’s hat trick, New Canaan goals were scored by Braeden Dial, Reilly Krug, Kendall Curtin, Katherine Reiss and Jackie Newlin.
In Sunday’s Championship game, the defense and goaltenders played to reputation, denying Wilton on several tries and allowing no goals. With an impenetrable wall of defensive granite behind them, New Canaan’s offense went to work, applying relentless pressure during the first half.
Taking a beautiful touch pass from Molly Mazabras to the left side, Eliza Pohle scored New Canaan’s first goal on a shot from just outside the 18-yard penalty box stripe, driving the ball just under the crossbar and over the outstretched hands of the Wilton goaltender. The half ended with New Canaan holding a 1-0 lead.
In the second half, New Canaan extended its lead to 2-0 in truly dramatic fashion when Reilly Krug sent a ball across the middle which Katherine Reiss headed with perfect technique into the center of net.
With less than 10 minutes remaining, Pohle scored for the second time on a volley to the left post, set up by a pass from Mierendorf.
From that point forward, the defense gave no ground, preserving the second shutout of the weekend and icing New Canaan’s district championship.
