And the Bulldogs just keep rolling along!
Lyman High School knows all about undefeated seasons in girls soccer and, barring an East Lyme upset, that will be true again in 2007 after the Bulldogs blanked St. Bernard, 2-0, in Uncasville Monday night.
"It's pretty tough," St. Bernard senior Lauren Kozlowski said when asked how tough it is to stop the Lyman offense. "We still have a relatively young defense too."
Ashlee Coutu wasn't going to be denied as she scored her 23rd and 24th goals of the season in the first 10 minutes of the game and had a couple of other good chances that just missed. Her goal now is to get one step further than Lyman did last year in the state-that would be a state championship- and there's one slight hitch to that plan. Lyman has to play in Class M this season as they finished one girl over the enrollment number to be a Class S school.
"We have Suffield, Tolland, Avon, right off the bat, Laurelton Hall down south and Rocky Hill could be a sleeper, you have some good teams in Class M," Lyman coach Mark Morello said.
"Watertown, Holy Cross, I could keep naming them."
And to make matters worse, Morello knows little about his new opponents although the opposite is true too.
"I hope it will even out because my folder was useless by the end of the summer when I found out we were in (Class) M by one girl. I had all my "S" stuff ready to roll and here we are in "M",'Morello laughed.

This was what could only be described as heartache for an athlete who has devoted his whole high school athletic career to running.
Woodstock Academy senior Mike Berkowicz, his left ankle taped and now with ice surrounding it Saturday at Wickham Park in Manchester, could only envision what could have been and what wasn't all because of a stupid tree root.
Berkowicz and the rest of his teammates were just beginning to practice for the State Championship meet last Saturday, two days after he finished second in the Eastern Connecticut Conference championship.
Berkowicz was about two minutes into practice when he stumbled over the root. Not thinking anything about it, he tried to get up,but realized the ankle just wasn't going to support him and two of his teammates had to help him back.
The ankle sprain meant Berkowicz could only stationary bike and swim up this past week instead of being out there and training. He still gave it a try and accomplished what many would have been happy with, a 20th place overall finish.
"We needed me to be about 20 places higher," Berkowicz said as his team finished fifth overall and missed running for the State Open championship.
His teammate, Zach Eckard, will be on hand for that on Friday as he placed fifth overall in the race.

Three years in a row.
It's not all that easy when you consider that Woodstock, East Lyme and Ledyard have all had very good soccer programs over the last three years but Norwich Free Academy has been just a little better.
The Wildcats clinched the Eastern Connecticut Conference Large Division again yesterday with the 4-0 win over the Vikings. Andre Nicholas, Casey McGarvey and Keesen Howe all contributed goals and all just happen to be seniors.
"It means a lot to the program to have these great runs," NFA coach Rob Briones said. "We were ranked number one in the state (at one point last season) and number eight in the nation, it's the generation of these kids because they've earned it."
But Briones knows all good things come to an end.
"The next two years will be decision time with what is coming up, we're going to be young so I'm trying to enjoy right now," Briones said with a laugh.
The Wildcats helped him enjoy it a little more on Wednesday with the early clinch as they still have ECC Large Division games to be played against Ledyard and Woodstock before they head to the Class LL state tournament.
"It was great that we played Brookfield and Westhill even though we lost to Westhill because there is so much competition in LL," Briones said. "Here in the ECC's, there are only two LL teams, us and Fitch. So we're looking forward to it and see what happens. Hopefully, we'll finish 14-1 and be able to rank high and get a first-round home game. Having a home game would be to our advantage."
The Wildcats still have that bitter taste in their mouth from last season when they finished 15-0 in the regular season but lost to No. 33 Glastonbury in a Class LL first- round state tournament game.

The happiest guy at the Eastern Connecticut Conference's Cross Country Championship meet last Thursday?
That had to be Andrew Hill from Bacon Academy.
The sophomore did something he hasn't been able to do all season, beat Jason Cusack of Griswold to the finish line as he placed third overall behind the likes of Mike Miner of NFA and Mike Berkowicz of Woodstock.
"I wanted to place (Thursday) but I didn't expect to come in third but I stayed with the front pack and eventually pulled it out in the end," Hill said.
"I've been trying to beat Cusack all year and I finally got him (Thursday), I was just trying to stay in front with everybody and I felt pretty good out there."
Hill suddenly finds himself in the favorite's role next year as both Miner and Berkowicz are seniors although there is still more to accomplish this season.
The biggest day of the year in cross country comes up this Saturday as all of the state's teams will gather at Wickham Park in Manchester for the cross country state championship races on Saturday.

This is the problem when you make picks on high school football games.
You almost need a crystal ball to predict the weather, injuries and other factors that come into play because had I known that Windham would meet Ledyard on a field more suitable for ducks, the pick would have been easy.
I'm not making excuses, now, I did pick Windham to beat Ledyard and Brian Crudden wasn't making excuses either. The Windham coach, standing in the rain as he had all night, agreed with Ledyard coach Bill Mignault that football was made to be played in weather like we had Friday night.
I think most of the media would agree and, why not, it's fun to watch especially when you're huddled in a press box protected from the elements. (By the way, I was the one who led the charge to shelter when the rain started pouring down in buckets).
But it did take away from Windham's game which is built on speed. Ledyard is the king of the bull rush and that's essentially what the Colonels did all night. Three passes, a couple of reverses, the rest were straight ahead dives, sweeps and counters using their big backs Stephen Jenkinson and Chris Blomstedt.
After the game was over, I had to find my way across the field to where the car was parked (why I chose Friday night to park as far away as possible is beyond me) and it was difficult even to walk on, much less run and cut.
But this is high school football and the unpredictability of it is what makes it fun (as long as you don't have to try and make picks each week!).

The hottest player in high school boys soccer right now, Miles Snelgrove.
The Lyman High School forward has torched teams for 10 goals in his last five games to move up the scoring ladder in Eastern Connecticut rapidly.
Why the sudden surge?
"It's just numbers," Snelgrove said, "without the team, none of it would happen. We're a young team that has really come together well."
Snelgrove refused to take much credit for the hot streak although Tourtellotte assistant coach Mike Arpin quipped Thursday night that Snelgrove has got to be the best player in the Eastern Connecticut Conference Small Division right now.
"Honestly, yeah," junior Jacob Duff said when asked if Snelgrove has surprised him just a bit with his sudden rash of scoring.
"He works so hard to get the ball and put it in the back of the net, it's what we need," Duff added.
It's apparently working as Lyman is undefeated in their first nine games this season.

Waterford High School cross country coach Chris Gamble wasn't the only one pleasantly surprised by his team's finish at the Wickham Invitational on Saturday.
The same could be said for Windham High School girls coach Becky Howard as her Whippets finished in sixth place overall in the unseeded race.
"I'm hoping so," Howard said when I asked her if it says good things for Windham for the rest of the season.
"We were hoping to get our number five runner to close the gap and she achieved that. I think we're getting more in shape, I just wish we had been in this kind of shape at the beginning of the season," Howard added.
Kristen Hurley and Marissa Sanders were tops for the Whippets as they placed in 31st and 37th places respectively.
Hard to believe but the cross country season is just about over with the last of the dual meets today. The Eastern Connecticut Conference championship will be held next Thursday at the Norwich Golf Course and the state championship races take place the following Saturday at Wickham Park.

It was funny on Friday night when Norwich Free Academy receiver Ronnie Floyd ran by and said "See Mr. Allard, keep picking against us."
I now must be looked upon as some good luck charm as I've picked against the Wildcats the last three weeks and they've proven me wrong on all three accounts.
It's not that I don't respect NFA's program, it's just that the foes they've gone up against aren't exactly chopped liver.
East Lyme was coming off a nice win in the first week while the Wildcats just managed to get past Stamford. I had to like the Vikings chances.
The Wildcats just got past a good Plainfield team last week and Friday night could have gone either way as well against Windham.
So, it hasn't been easy and the Wildcats still can improve especially offensively (two dropped TD passes, two stalled drives within the Windham five) but here they are at 4-0.
They will have to forego one lucky charm, however, I will be picking NFA against St. Bernard, I just haven't figured out the score yet.

There had been some hopeful speculation in the Eastern Connecticut Conference that RHAM High School, a regional high school based in Hebron, is looking to come into the league.
As of right now, that doesn't seem to be on the immediate horizon.
I spoke with the Principal of RHAM, Scott Leslie, who didn't rule out the thought but also didn't give any indication that RHAM is ready to leave the Northwest Conference.
The NWC is in a little state of flux as Farmington has announced that it is leaving that conference. There has been speculation that a school such as Derby might be offered membership and you don't get from RHAM to Derby, at least, not very quickly.
If that would be the case, RHAM might look at other options including the ECC. It certainly would be a nice fit as the 1100-student school does offer a lot of programs, including football, that the ECC would find attractive especially as a Large Division school. The local league approached RHAM a couple of years ago but RHAM wasn't interested at the time.
RHAM already has relationships with some ECC schools, it co-ops football with Lyman and swimming with Windham. It also plays its Thanksgiving Day football game against Bacon Academy.
But Leslie added that, for now, RHAM is just watching and waiting to see what develops in its own league before looking elsewhere.

There are some goodies hiding out there this week when it comes to soccer, cross country, and volleyball.
The Woodstock Centaurs girls soccer team, currently sitting by itself atop the Eastern Connecticut Conference Large Division, will be challenged at home today as they host the Waterford Lancers who come in with a 2-1 record.
Also today, the two undefeated Large Division teams in boys cross country, NFA and Ledyard, meet in Norwich. Plainfield and St. Bernard run in a key ECC Small Division race in Central Village.
On the boys soccer field tomorrow (Wednesday), Lyman will get it's toughest test in the ECC Small Division as they travel to Tourtellotte, both teams sport a 3-0 Conference record. Lyman is undefeated in five games, the Tigers are 5-2.
NFA, again leading the ECC Large, visits East Lyme which is much better than a year ago and is also 3-0 in the league.
In volleyball, the Griswold Wolverines may be battling injuries but they're still battling. They host NFA tomorrow in a non-divisional contest. The Wolverines are 6-1, the Wildcats 5-1 overall.
And on Saturday, it's the final warm-up for the state championship races as the Wickham Park Cross Country Invitational is held at (where else) Wickham Park.
Looks like a fun week, we'll see you in Woodstock.

It was week three of the high school football season and, personally, I had the chance to go to the best game I've seen all year.
It wasn't perfect, Norwich Free Academy made its share of mistakes, Plainfield made some as well but as far as sheer intensity- this one had it.
I knew it would be close and it was as close as the 20-18 score indicated with NFA putting together a last minute drive that saved its third consecutive win of the season. But the Panthers did everything they could to put a "W" up on the board as well and Plainfield coach Pat Smith could only praise his Panthers for a good Saturday morning's work.
"Kids never quit here, we battled and we told the kids all week that we had a chance to play with this team and the kids believed it," Smith said.
"We proved something to ourselves although two points short of our goal but we're a good football team. We play extremely hard and people who come to Plainfield are going to know that they have to play a good game to beat us," he added.
There were no real upsets this past week although some would put Killingly's one-point win over St. Bernard in that category. I had that one as a toss-up although I did pick the Saints to come out on top. The Redmen will do OK against their ECC Small Division foes.
Waterford also put up a good fight against Windham but fell five points short.
This week gets a lot tougher with NFA at Windham on Friday and Ledyard vs. New London on Saturday as games that immediately stand out.