October Soccer

October was another exciting month of soccer.  Emily's Magic team made it to the quarterfinals of the state cup before getting knocked out of the competition.  They played great soccer along the way - including a thrilling, double overtime victory against Trumbull.  The loss the following weekend to Ridgefield was tough because Magic was a much better team but played their worst game in 6 months - so they were not the better team that day.  We also saw some sporadically good soccer from the CFC girls.  Emily was only able to squeeze in one game with the 05s because there were so many conflicts during this fall.  She only scored three goals in October - two of those were game winners - and had a lot of nice play and a great time with her friends and teammates.  November wraps up the outdoor season and starts the indoor season.

Emily was stripped of the ball here, but I love this picture.

Scoring.

Cracking jokes on the bench with Meg.

Victory run after a double overtime win in Trumbull.

About to "shake and bake" the Farmington defender, on her way to a goal.

These guys got two wins in the same day - Magic/CFC girls.

Catholic School Invitational

Last Saturday was the Catholic School Invitational, the last cross country race of the season and Elizabeth's final middle school cross country race.  We love this race because it's the only time all year that our kids have the chance to race against kids like them - from small schools that only have practice two days per week.  Both of our teams were incredibly successful - the boys finished 2nd out of 8 teams, for the second year in a row and the girls finished 3rd out of 8 teams, stunning all us.  Each team had four runners in the top 20.  Elizabeth led the way for the girls, finishing 11th overall and first for JPII, setting a new school record and beating her sister for the first time all season - what a way to finish your middle school running career!
Overall, Elizabeth and Emily had a great season.  Each of them set a school record; Emily set a 6th grade school record in every race that she ran; Elizabeth set an 8th grade record in 3 out of 4 races.  We really could ask for much more from our girls!

JPII Girls  

Elizabeth and Mom selfie before the race. 

Love them so much. 

About 200 yards into the race. 

Emily hung with the top five for a while, but she just couldn't hang on.  Elizabeth just started picking off runners and passed Emily right before the mile marker, never looking back.

Sprinting to the finish. 

Proud 8th grader with mom and dad. 

These two ran their best race of the year! 

Getting her medal. 

JPII Cross Country Team and Coaches. 

The medalists.  Emily had to leave the moment the girls race finished for a quarter final soccer game and so isn't pictured here.

Independent Day Invitational

Our cross country team ran its favorite event of the year last week, the IDS Invitational.  This course is short (1.69m) and fast, although this year they did add a hill that threw the runners a bit.  Our boys team did really well, placing 4th out of 10 teams and the girls team had some great individual performances.  Elizabeth finally broke out of her slump, finishing 29th overall with a 7:34 pace and setting a new 8th grade record for the school on this course.  Emily placed 14th overall with a 7:04 pace, setting a new 6th grade record for the school on this course.  She was disappointed because the top 10 earned medals, but she really ran her heart out and there is no way that she could hang with the top runners, who were insanely fast.  One race left.

JPII girls waiting at the start.

And they're off!

Emily smiles when her male teammates cheer for her - she just can't help herself.

Heading to the finish.

My friend Lynn got this video of Emily running the final twenty yards or so to the finish.

Running strong to the finish.

Elizabeth and Katie, her BFF from IDS.

September Odds and Ends

September was a fun and busy month!

Patriotic girls, ready for 9/11. 

Magic/CFC girls - the weekly (and sometime weekend) carpool.

Family selfie at the Durham Fair. 

Lambie 

Poutine! 

Visiting Groton and dreaming big.

Waiting for her sister to finish lacrosse practice. 

Magic girls after a hot and humid practice. 

Dragon for a Day at St. George's.