Postseason Soccer Friday

It's another weekend of writing about local high school games I was at. 

Most of you will likely stop reading now. 

Friday was another busy sports afternoon and evening. 

Ludlowe hosted girls' and boys' soccer CIAC (State) Class LL first round games as the higher seeds. 

The girls hosted Warde, so it's always interesting when you get the cross-town matchup in a postseason game, especially a state tournament game. 

It's unfortunate that it was a first-round matchup and not later in the tournament. 

You know that one team's season is coming to an end. We always want to see all out teams make deep postseason runs. 

On the contrary, I know from a work perspective, we will have a team advancing.  

Warde came out on top with a 2-0 victory. Both goals came from senior Paige Shaughnessy. 

The Mustangs advance to the 2nd round where they will play at Manchester at 4pm on Monday. 

Next up was the Ludlowe boys hosting Wilbur Cross. 

It was a matchup of intense physicality and emotion. 

Both teams had opportunities, but neither would put a goal in net in regulation. 

That sent the game to overtime. Again, neither team would score in either of the 10-minute overtime sessions. 

The game would go into penalty kicks. 

There, Wilbur Cross would edge Ludlowe 5-4 in PK's. 

I try to support all our athletes, but as I've stated many times, this boys' soccer team is a special group for me. Led by Charlie Jones, Ian Moore, Kenny Luczaj and Luke Dilillo. But it's more than that, it's Chase McCormack, Chase Mehta, Brendan Walsh and others. I know I shouldn't list people, because then I am leaving people out. 

Additionally, the Ludlowe football team was playing at McMahon. This game was going on at the same time as boys' soccer, so I stayed at Ludlowe for soccer while following football via text and the live stream. 

The Falcons defeated McMahon 27-21 behind four Ryan Tompkins touchdowns. 

Ludlowe improves to 5-2 and will host Wilton on Friday. 

Looking ahead, the fall season is quickly winding down. Winter sports will be here soon. 

2024 World Series - 30 -

2024 World Series - 30 - 

The 2024 World Series came to a close on Wednesday night with the Dodgers defeating the Yankees in five games. 

As a Yankees fan, it was a disappointing ending. While some people might say getting to the World Series makes it a terrific season, winning it all is the ultimate goal and that did not happen. 

Congrats to the Dodgers. They were the better team. 

Happy for the local kid, Ben Casparius, 2017 Staples graduate, who gets a championship. 

Like every team, there were ups and downs for the Yankees, they started strong, struggled during the middle of the season, and they found it again late in the regular season. 

Even in their division series win over the Royals and championship series win over the Guardians, it felt like the Yankees were not playing great baseball. They found a way to win those games, but you knew if they played the Dodgers, they would have to play better than they had previously. 

And they did play the Dodgers. And they didn't play that much better. 

That's not to take away what LA did. As I said, they were the better team and deserved to win. Their lineup is relentless and their pitching, which was suspect coming in, did enough. 

If you think about the Dodgers lineup, with Shohei Ohtani, Mookie Betts and Freddie Freeman at the top and then guys like Kike Hernandez and Teoscar Hernandez to Tommy Edman and others. Just so relentless. 

Honestly, people will say the Yankees will be back. But every year is different, and it is so difficult to just make, yet alone win., the World Series. 

Now the questions begin. The biggest one being will Juan Soto be back, or was he just a one-year rental? Gleyber Torres is also a free agent. 

The Yankees have already announced that Aaron Boone will be back as manager. I'm sure that doesn't make a lot of fans happy. 

Sure, has Boone made some questionable decisions, yes. But fans will question decisions made no matter who is the manager, especially if it doesn't work. 

I hate when baseball season ends. Sure, we have football, basketball and hockey, but my number one sport will always be baseball. Plus, it gives us games basically ever night. I love that it's a marathon, not a sprint. 

It's been fun, but obviously could have been special. 

Only 103 days and counting until Pitchers and Catchers report for the 2025 season! 

Respect for Exit 55

Rob's Blog Profile Photo

Streaks of doing something in a row are super impressive. 

Whether that be in sports, like Lou Gehrig or Cal Ripken, or anything in life. 

Like writing. 

My friend, Rob Adams, announced earlier today on his blog, "Exit 55", that his consecutive days streak of blog posts will come to an end tomorrow. Today is the last day of the streak. 

Since December 30, 2018, Rob has written a blog post every day. 

2,129 consecutive posts. 

Just incredible. 

Another friend, John Nash, challenged Rob late in 2018 to "Project 365", which meant writing one post every day for a year. Rob did that and so much more. 

Some might say, it's just writing, how hard is it? Oh, it's a lot harder than it looks. Believe me. 

To have the time, energy, and creativeness to come up with topics just shows incredible dedication. 

It's also about having a device with you to do it and having internet access everywhere you go. 

Yes, it's possible to write on a phone, but much simpler to write on a laptop or computer. 

And so much more that goes into it. 

It's not about the number of readers, and sometimes people write for themselves, but you also want to write something interesting, in some way. 

It's not my story to tell, and Rob wrote a lot of it on his blog, but everything that has gone on since Rob started the streak, both personally for Rob, and in the world, just makes the streak even more impressive. 

He's written about so many important topics. Some posts are more serious, some more light-hearted. And many different topics. Sports, both local and professional, family, music, broadcasting, and so much more. 

That is what makes his blog even better, how diverse it can be. 

As Rob says, he will continue to blog, and I hope he does a lot. I always look forward to his posts. However, now there is no pressure, and he can write when he wants about what he wants. 

If I write more, I am just rambling. 

I just wanted to give the respect to Rob, "Exit 55", and the streak that it deserves. And I likely didn't give it the justice it deserves. 

He's not only a tremendous broadcaster, but a terrific writer as well. Most importantly, an amazing, loyal friend and person. 

I'll leave you with this. Make the Exit 55 Blog part of your reading. 

Well done, Rob. Well done, my friend. 

Enjoy the well-deserved break. 

Volleyball Friday, Football Saturday and Supporting Important Causes

Ludlowe/Warde girls' volleyball FCIAC quarterfinal action

It's pretty clear what games I was at this weekend, based on the title of this blog post. 

On Friday, Ludlowe and Warde faced off in the FCIAC girls' volleyball quarterfinals.

The two teams met in the regular season on October 5, with Warde coming out victorious in a five-set match at Fairfield University. 

Friday's match was held at Ludlowe as the Falcons were the No. 4 seed, hosting the fifth seeded Mustangs. 

For the second time this season, Warde came out with the victory. This time, it was a three-set sweep. 

All three sets were close, however. 

Warde came away with set victories of 26-24, 25-23, 25-22 to sweep the match. 

The Mustangs advance to the FCIAC semifinals on Monday where they will face the top seed Greenwich at 5pm at Stamford High School. 

Ludlowe will look towards the state tournament. 

It's always exciting and interesting when the two schools meet in the postseason, whether that be the league tournament or state tournament. 

*****

On Saturday, Ludlowe hosted Darien in football in a much-hyped matchup. 

Darien took a 7-0 lead and did not look back on way to a 48-15 victory. 

The Blue Waye improve to 5-1, while Ludlowe falls to 4-2. 

Ludlowe's two scores came on a Justin Toothaker touchdown reception from Grant Stupak late in the first half and a Ryan Menozzi touchdown reception with 10:47 left. Ramzee Atta also hauled in a two-point conversion. 

It was also a pink-out Breast Cancer Awareness Day at the football game. Fans were encouraged to wear pink and the FLHS Athletic Department and The Nest, the student fan club, co-sponsored sales of T-Shirts. The net proceeds will go to the Norma Pfreim Breast Center for Breast Cancer research. 

The shirts were pink with white writing and a white Falcon. The writing said "No One Fights Alone" with the "O" in one being the breast cancer awareness ribbon. 

Below the Falcon it read, "-The Nest." 

Thank you to everyone who purchased a shirt. Students, faculty and staff, parents and just other fans at the game. 

Breast Cancer Awareness is important, and I am happy we do events to support. However, I wish more was done, both locally and globally, around other cancers and other causes in general. 

Other Cancers and causes have "months" where they get recognition, but not to the same degree. 

Please don't take this as I want to take anything away from Breast Cancer Awareness. That is not what I am saying. I just wish there was more support for the others. 

Overall, I would just to see more support for so many important causes. 

Ludlowe Football Topples Stamford Behind Team Effort; MADD Walk

Ludlowe's offense sets up to run a play during the game vs Stamford

I said last night, I might write about football today. 

Well, here I am. 

Ludlowe took the trip down to Stamford to face the Black Knights at historic Michael A. Boyle Stadium, better known as just Boyle Stadium. *

*Boyle Stadium was a Work Progress Administration (WPA) project that was built starting in 1935 and named for Boyle, who was a football coach and athletic director, in 1942. (Thanks to Rob Adams for the initial history lesson on this, plus further research.) 

I love this history in this. It's such great stadium to be in. And it's truly a stadium with the brick walls and the bench style seating. It's also got the press box above the stands on the visiting side. If I remember correctly, it used to be on the far (home) side. 

It also always has a big-game feel, as many FCIAC Championships and other playoff and other big games are often played there. 

Now, to the game. 

The Falcons came away with a 26-0 victory. It was a team effort in all facets of the game. 

Despite the score, the game was scoreless through one quarter. 

In the second quarter, Ryan Tompkins had a touchdown run and Ryan Menozzi had a touchdown reception and Ludlowe led 13-0 at halftime. 

In the third quarter, Stupak found Justin Toothaker for the 26-yard score to put Ludlowe on top 19-0 with 8:30 left in the quarter. Toothaker also had a third quarter interception, defensively. 

In the fourth quarter, the scoring was capped when Stupak connected with Menozzi again for a 26-yard score. 

While not in the scoring column, Timmy O'Neil also had some big catches for the Falcons offensively. 

The Falcon defense was strong as a collective unit in pitching the shutout. 

The Falcons improve to 4-1 and will be back in action next Saturday as they host Darien, who was number five in the state in the Gametime CT poll coming into this week. 

The Blue Wave defeated St. Joe's 14-0 on Friday night. They will likely move up in the poll before next week, as not only did they win, but No. 3 Staples and No. 1 Greenwich both lost this week. 

It will be an important game for the Falcons, as they look to keep piling up the wins in hopes of a playoff berth. 

Finally, I nice job by Stamford High School Athletics with their Pink-Out and Breast Cancer Awareness Day. The entire Stamford stands were decked out in pink and there were announcements made about t-shirt sales and other items for their fundraiser. 

******

Saturday night, Mothers Against Drunk Driving (MADD) held a "Walk Like MADD" event at Ludlowe's Taft Field. 

You can read more about MADD here. 

It was nice to see a large number of Ludlowe students, including many students' athletes, in attendance at the walk. I'm sure there were others, but I noted members of the girls' and boys' lacrosse teams, the dance team, and the baseball team among others. 

So many people have been impacted by drunk driving, and it has impacted the Ludlowe community over the years. 

I wasn't totally sure what to expect, but I figured I would go by and check it out and support. I always have this thought that these events are going to be larger scale than they end up being. That's not to say it wasn't done well, because it was. 

There are so many important causes and charities to support. Everyone has reasons for why they support one or another. It's impossible to support them all. 

For example, I know there was also an Alzheimer's walk in Fairfield at Sacred Heart University on Saturday morning. 

Back to this MADD event. Nice work by Tim Morris of Ludlowe and everyone else who was involved in putting the event together and running it. 

It seems like an ongoing theme of my blogs, especially recently, have been support. 

Well, it was another day of supporting people, in different ways. 

Participants in the MADD Walk 

Supporting The Seniors

Ludlowe boys' soccer seniors 2024

I often write about days of game. Often weekends of multiple games. 

I don't often write about actual work, because there's a lot I cannot say, plus, who really cares about my workday. 

Then again, many people who read this may not care about the games I write about. I hope some people do. 

I am burying the lead. 

Friday was a busy day at Ludlowe (and Warde, although I was at Ludlowe but could have very well went to Warde for games). 

It was senior day/night for not one, not two, but three teams. 

Girls' volleyball, field hockey and boys' soccer. 

It was also a successful day as all three teams came away with victories. 

Girls' volleyball defeated Wilton in straight sets. 

Field hockey took down St. Joe's 7-0. Lily McClay had three goals, Catie Leddy two and Ava Cagnassola and Ellery Walker each had a goal. 

Boys' soccer defeated Bridgeport Central 2-0. Charlie Jones two goals. Cooper Sicre with a goal. Will Bostrom and Chase McCormack combine on a shutout in goal. 

I watched parts of the first two, as I went back and forth as they overlapped. 

I then watched all of boys' soccer. 

I know I am not supposed to play favorites with teams or athletes, but....

(Please note, this blog, or my personal social media, have no affiliation the schools or my job)

The boys' soccer group is a tremendous group of kids. It's one of those groups that I've gotten to know well. First and foremost, because of the basketball and baseball players who are on the team. Also, just being in the school and then going to all the games, I have gotten to know others. 

A couple thoughts on senior days/nights. 

- It should be the last home game. With a few exceptions like if that last game is the rivalry game or something like that. 

-It's a quick recognition of the seniors. Do more at the banquet. 

Again, these are my thoughts, and I know people have a reason for the ways things are done. 

Onto football tomorrow. 

Maybe I will write about that. Or I won't. 

We will see. 

Twitter vs Instagram

Everyone knows that I am on social media a lot. 

Specifically, Twitter (X), Instagram and Facebook. 

Staples High School baseball coach Jack McFarland even jokes that I invented Twitter. 

I use my personal accounts, as well as accounts for groups that I am involved with. 

A lot of what I post on my personal social media is high school sports related. 

For years, I have posted score updates on Twitter. Yes, I am still calling it that. 

Well, recently, in addition to Tweeting score updates, I have started posting score updates on my Instagram story 

I feel that this reaches a different, or at least a broader audience. It reaches the younger people, as well as parents who are on Instagram. 

Sometimes, I will just share my Tweet to my Instagram story, other times I will share a photo of the scoreboard, or a photo of the game and I will type the score on the photo/story. 

Often, I will just put the score, but sometimes, when I can, I will give who scored, or other statistics. I want to try to do better with that as it gives the athletes direct recognition. 

After a day of posting a lot of updates on Instagram recently, I put up a poll to see if I should continue. The response was a resounding, yes. 

I don't want to be annoying with it. So, I wanted to see what the reception was. 

Twitter has changed, and even before the change, I'd hear people say they were looking for score updates but were not on Twitter. For a long time, Twitter was the go-to spot to get local score updates. Now, it seems like there are fewer and fewer updates on Twitter. 

I'll keep posting on both, until told otherwise. 

It's also a way to be different and stand out from others. 

In terms of Facebook, sometimes I will post final scores, but more likely, people will get it from the blogs I post. Years ago, I would post in-game updates or at least final score updates on Facebook often. I remember posting in-game updates while watching the Little League World Series on TV years ago when Fairfield American was involved. Yeah, that may have been a little overboard on my end. 

Different ways to use the different platforms (or mediums). 

It some ways, it's about promoting ourselves and our "brand." More importantly, once again, it's about promoting the teams and athletes. 

Shameless related plug: Follow me on Instagram and Twitter @ShawnSailer for updates.