Featured Story
Week of September 18-24
FIELD HOCKEY
The Storm Varsity Field Hockey team traveled to New Haven to take on a very strong Hopkins School on Monday, September 18. Defense set the tone early in the game as St. Luke's battled the Hilltoppers to a scoreless tie deep into the first half. St. Luke’s defensive line was spearheaded by Sophie Feldman ‘18, Kirsten Pastore ‘19, Kathleen Ehlers 20 and goalkeeper Emma Cropper ‘19 who saved 13 shots on goal.
Kendall Boege ‘19 was also instrumental on defense by breaking up multiple corner shots by Hopkins throughout the game. SLS gave up their first goal at 18:56 of the first half and went into the break trailing 1-0. Finally, at the 19:31 mark in the second half, Hopkins scored again and the game gradually slipped away with a final score of 4-0.
Football
The Storm Varsity Football team travelled to Wilbraham & Monson Academy on Saturday, September 23 with tremendous focus and determination. With a team motto of “Family”, they went out and showed they are a tight-knit football family and pounded their way to a decisive 35-14 victory that featured contributions from everyone.
The Storm got on the board first after a long punt return by Shaka Moales ’18 that set them up on the WMA three-yard line. Two plays later Austin Andersen ’21 punched it in from the one-yard line behind the strong offensive line push. Andrew Lau ’21 added the extra point for a 7-0 lead late in the first quarter.
The St. Luke’s defense was stifling throughout the game with many players including Noah Bailey ’19, Ben Joseph ’18, Chandler Greene ‘19, Brendan Casey ’18 and Kenny Soares ’21 putting constant pressure on the opposing quarterback and making great open field tackles. This gave the Storm offense good starting field position throughout the first half. The visitors extended their lead to 15-0 early in the second quarter on a Chandler Greene one-yard touchdown run following a strong run by Andersen.
The Storm special teams continued their great play as they thwarted a WMA fake punt attempt at midfield. Later in the second quarter it looked like St. Luke’s was going to be content to take their 15-point lead into the locker room but Shaka Moales and the offensive line had other plans. With time expiring in the half, Moales burst through the line and outran two WMA defenders in a 90-yard sprint to the end zone. Lau added the extra point and it was suddenly a 22-0 Storm lead at the half.
Following a fumble recovery by Soares, the Storm passing attack got into the action. Michael Hage ’19 faked a handoff, stepped back and hit Seth Kim ’19 in the end zone on a 30-yard touchdown pass down the middle of the field. Once again, Lau drilled the extra point and it was 29-0 early in the third quarter.
Ryan Higgins ’21 continued his stellar afternoon getting the offense the ball back again in great field position with an interception that he returned to the WMA 40-yard line. Shaka Moales quickly ran off a 38-yard run down to the two-yard line. Juan Rosario ’19 followed it up with a strong two-yard touchdown run up the middle for a commanding 35-0 lead.
With many younger players such as Koy Price ’21 flashing their skills in the fourth quarter, the Storm battled all the way to the end and showed that the future is bright. The only thing left to do on this great day was to celebrate as a true Family on the long bus trip back to campus.
Boys Soccer
The Storm Varsity Soccer team traveled up the Housatonic Valley to play South Kent on Saturday, September 23 for what would prove to be a tough, close match.
For the first 20 minutes both sides jousted back and forth but neither really managed a good scoring opportunity until the South Kent team scored two quick goals, both on fast breaks.
The Storm quickly regrouped, and regained control of the tempo. A few minutes later, a beautiful sequence of passes saw Julian Velez ‘20 find Jake Kavan ‘21 who forced the ball past the South Kent goalkeeper, to make it 1-2 before the half.
In the second period, the Storm came out charging. Max Mitchell ‘20 powered a free kick off the crossbar to make it 2-2.
Goalkeeper Ryan Neafsey ‘18 made a number of outstanding saves before South Kent notched another goal off of a corner kick, making the score 2-3.
Unfortunately, the home team converted another opportunity to make it 2-4 but St. Luke’s continued to press forcing the ball repeatedly into the SK end of the field.
With just over ten minutes to play Landon Bachman ‘20 sent a pass up the side to CJ Woodberry ‘19 who found Brenden Whiteley ‘18 in the center. Whiteley calmly moved it over to Mitchell who scored his second of the game to make it 3-4.
Despite continued pressure in the last ten minutes of the game St. Luke’s could not quite get that last goal to tie it up. It was a close game with a lot of great play by all elements of the Storm team.
St. Luke’s School is a secular (non-religious), private school in New Canaan, CT for grades 5 through 12 serving over 35 towns in Connecticut and New York. Our exceptional academics and diverse co-educational community foster students’ intellectual and ethical development and prepare them for top colleges. St. Luke’s Center for Leadership builds the commitment to serve and the confidence to lead.
