Naugy shakes off sluggish start

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Torrington's Kristina Michaud, left, and Naugatuck's Nicole Crowley battle for the ball Sept. 9 in Torrington. Naugatuck won the game, 4-2. -REPUBLICAN-AMERICAN
Torrington’s Kristina Michaud, left, and Naugatuck’s Nicole Crowley battle for the ball Sept. 9 in Torrington. Naugatuck won the game, 4-2. -REPUBLICAN-AMERICAN

NAUGATUCK — The Greyhounds took a little while to impose their will in the season-opener Sept. 9, but when they did they came away with a 4-2 win at Torrington.

“We were a little sluggish for about the first 15 minutes,” Naugatuck head coach Lisa Mariano said. “After that we began playing how we have been practicing leading up to the season-opener.”

Playing on the road didn’t help. Torrington came out and took a 2-1 lead into halftime with goals from Shannon Reardon and Alexis Tyrrell. The Raiders kept Naugatuck at bay with Erica Morrison making 11 saves in the net.

“Torrington came out ready to go and took an early 1-0 lead,” Mariano said. “We came back to tie it but still trailed at the half. We didn’t panic and stayed with our game and that was the key because we are a young team.”

Panic they didn’t. The Greyhounds outscored Torrington 3-0 in the second half to come home with a win.

Naugatuck's Kyla Magalhaes, right, and Torrington's Caitlin Perugini battle for the ball Sept. 9 in Torrington. Naugatuck won the game, 4-2. -REPUBLICAN-AMERICAN
Naugatuck’s Kyla Magalhaes, right, and Torrington’s Caitlin Perugini battle for the ball Sept. 9 in Torrington. Naugatuck won the game, 4-2. -REPUBLICAN-AMERICAN

Hailey Boulanger (3 goals) scored a hat trick to lead the Greyhounds’ offensive attack. Nicole Crowley also found the back of the net with Lizzie Kroos adding an assist.

Kyla Magalhaes and Erin Doris helped the Naugatuck defense shutdown Torrington in the second half and Cassidy Baranowski made three saves in the net for the Greyhounds.

The Greyhounds hosted Seymour on Tuesday for their home-opener and topped the Wildcats 1-0.

Erin Doris scored the goal for Naugatuck (2-0) off an assist from Makayla Teixeira. Baranowski made one save on the day.

Naugatuck will play Brookfield on Wednesday and head to Woodland on Friday to face the Hawks at 3:30 p.m.