A few snaps of Christmas festivities this year (forgot to take pics at O'Connor Christmas, but it was such a loud and fun time that the excessive noise warning on my watch went off several times!).
The Sporting 06 girls played in the FC Stars Showcase over the first weekend in December. They had a strong showing, winning all three games and not giving up any goals. Emily had a very good weekend, playing the full 90 in all three games and scoring in each game, including two game winners. The team was not in the top bracket so it was important to give a dominant performance and they did. She looks very strong heading into the Christmas break and the upcoming Florida Showcase.
In early November, Elizabeth spent six days with her Model United Nations class in Washington, D.C., where they attended the National Model United Nations Conference for the Fall of 2-23 (NMUN DC). Out of the conference, her class was kept very busy. After a six hour train ride, they immediately went to the Wilson Center for International Affairs, a think tank located in the heart of DC, where they met with representatives to discuss their work. After dinner, she went to see the monuments at night - specifically the Washington Monument, Lincoln Memorial and WWII Memorial.
The next day, they went to the US Department of State, where they met with the desk officers of the countries her class was representing at the conference, Austria and Greece. They provided the students with background information on the topics set at the NMUNDC in order for the students to accurately represent their countries. After the State Department, her class sat for a briefing at the International Monetary Fund (IMF), discussion the workings of the IMF. They ended the day at the European Union Delegation to the United States, where officials discussed current events and their impacts on Greece and Austria. Before the conference began, the Greece team traveled to the Greek embassy, where they discussed their topics more in-depth with Greek representatives. They also had the rare opportunity to meet the Greek ambassador to the United States, Ekaterini Nassika.
The majority of the trip was spent at the conference, where Elizabeth represented the country of Greece in the Food and Agriculture Organization Committee, along with her co-delegate Nora. She was "in committee" for 18 hours over 1 1/2 days, where she led a large working group and successfully led a three-way group merger to create one of seven Draft Resolutions. Elizabeth and her co-delegates on the Greek team also won the highest award of the conference, Outstanding Delegation, for excellent diplomacy and cooperation. As there were over 1000 students at the NMUNDC, this was an incredible honor.
The MUN program at the University of New Haven is an incredibly prestigious class, well known across the country as the NMUN program to beat. Elizabeth was required to apply to the program and sit for an interview last spring. She spent multiple days throughout the summer and fall semester sitting for 12 hour zoom sessions and 4 hour class blocks in order to prepare for this conference. The conference itself was very competitive and, at times, cutthroat, so she was very pleased that all of their hard work paid off with numerous awards.
Emily's high school soccer career came to an abrupt end with a 1-0 loss to New Canaan in the second round of the state tournament, early in November. I'm pretty sure that someday, she will look back on these four years and realize how incredibly lucky she was. She was blessed to have played on four amazing teams and Lee and I are privileged to have been spectators on this journey with her. Over the last four years, NWC played 74 soccer games and Emily played in every one of them, starting all but 3 and playing the full 80+ in 68 of them, including a stretch of 2 1/2 years during which she never came off the field. NWC won the conference championship in PKs when she was a freshman in a COVID-shortened season; she scored the game winning goal in a come from behind win that sent her team to the state tournament when she was a sophomore; played in two state championship games; and finished the regular season this year on a team that won the CCC West, was ranked #2 in Class S and finished as runners up in the CCC Championship game. It was an unbelievable run, especially this year when we thought that they might not win more than a couple of games.
For the last 12 months, Emily has been particularly blessed to be supported by coaches and trainers that truly believe in her - demanding and tough, as well as supportive and caring. She finished this season with two goals and eight assists while playing holding mid; led the team in tackles, and was a play maker with her long throw ins, lethal set pieces and excellent vision. She gave everything she had on the field and to this team and while that one big win always remained just out of reach, she can never look back and wonder if she could have done more. Cheers to the last four years.
All sports conferences in Connecticut have a fall soccer tournament - except for the CCC, which is Northwest Catholic's conference. That changed this year. Last year, the CCC hurriedly put something together, jamming in a semi-final and a final during the last week of the regular season. There was not enough rest for players and the idea was tossed out. This year, there was an eight team conference tournament played during the bye week between the end of the regular season in the beginning of the post season. The NWC girls went in as the #2 seed and had big hopes for winning it all. They knocked off Tolland at home in the quarterfinals 4-1 and then beat Wethersfield (avenging a tie from last season) 2-0 in the semifinals, only to meet Simsbury in the finals. The beat Simsbury earlier in the season 3-1, Simsbury's only loss of the season. Simsbury was out for revenge, playing a defensive formation the entire game. They had two shots on goal, but unfortunately, one of them went in on a miscommunication between a defender and the goalie. NWC suffered a bitter loss 1-0 and ended up runners up. Emily played three incredible games over the course of five days, with two insane assists in the first game, but that was little consolation for a player that just wants to win the big game once in her career.
