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For the first time since April 14, 2009, the Staples boys lacrosse team lost a regular season home game.

Three-plus years ago, New Canaan defeated Staples 8-2. Ridgefield broke the streak Tuesday with an 11-9 come-from-behind victory over the Wreckers.

Staples jumped out to a 5-1 lead on the strength of three goals by junior Colin Bannon. Bannon finished the game with four goals and one assist and is developing into a legitimate attacker.

Senior captain Peter Paul is the Wreckers’ top offensive weapon, but other teams know about him and cover him tightly. Paul tried to make things happen in the second half, but when he had the ball, there was usually three to four Tigers on him.

Ridgefield erased the deficit and tied it 5-5 at the break. After Staples took leads of 7-5 and 8-7, the Tigers answered.

Tim Kelly (five goals) and Sean Wilkinson (three goals, one assists) are Ridgefield’s catalysts and jump-started the Tigers’ attack.

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In a matchup of crosstown rivals, it was Darien which bested New Canaan 13-3 at home on Tuesday afternoon. This was due in large part to stout Darien defense and a monstrous offensive output in the second half.

Darien possesses well: Overall, there seemed to be fewer possession changes in this game than your average FCIAC lacrosse matchup. Both teams, but especially Darien, often controlled possession for great amounts of time while on the attack. Eventually, the Blue Wave attack appeared to wear down the Rams a bit.

West jumps into the spotlight: Although he’s sometimes overshadowed by teammate Case Matheis, Darien’s Henry West would definitely be the best player on a lot of teams in the FCIAC and in the state. With Darien’s offense off to somewhat of a slow start, it was West who provided the Blue Wave with the jumpstart they were looking by scoring all of Darien’s first three goals which were all unassisted.

Turnovers hurt New Canaan: New Canaan, which was trailing just 4-1 at halftime, hurt itself with several errant passes and unforced turnovers in the second half. Often times, Darien would capitalize almost instantaneously. New Canaan coach Alex Whitten is well aware of the fact that you can’t afford to hurt yourself with turnovers when you take on the likes of Darien.

“We consistently helped them in the fact that we just gave them pass after pass after pass,” Whitten said. “When our offense doesn’t handle the ball, it means our defense has to handle their defense more often. As a team, each link in the chain has to help the other link.”

Don’t sleep on New Canaan: Although they sport an underwhelming 3-3 record, the Rams should be there at the end of the season. New Canaan’s three losses have come at the hands of Wilton, Lawrenceville, NJ and Darien, and this looks like a team more than capable of going on a serious run once the scheduled becomes a bit more favorable.

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After starting its season with four straight losses, the last of which came against perennial powerhouse Chaminade High School (Mineola, N.Y.) the Greenwich High boys team entered the win column Saturday, defeating visiting Fairfield Ludlowe, 11-10. Both teams were solid in running their offense, received key saves from their goalies and had their moments defensively. Here’s my take on some of the key aspects of this FCIAC matchup.
Topsy, turvy final two minutes: The Cardinals held leads of 9-5 and 11-8, but the gritty Falcons wouldn’t give in. Senior attack Dan Errett shot low and scored with 1:26 remaining in the fourth quarter and junior attack Jack Palmer tallied with :30.2 seconds left, closing the Cards’ advantage to 11-10.
“When you have a team that hasn’t tasted a win sometimes they don’t know how to finish a team,” Greenwich coach Scott Bulkley said. “When you have a three or four-goal lead you need to preserve it. Hopefully now they’ve learned. I think we made a couple of mental errors to give Fairfield Ludlowe a chance to get back into the game. But give credit to them. They were fighting and had some good shots at the end.”
Kudos to the Falcons, who responded every time the Cards threatened to break the game open.
“It was exciting for me to watch how many of our kids contributed to our 10 goals,” said Ludlowe coach Chris Parisi, whose squad is 1-3. “A lot of guys made plays for us today, whether it was clearing the ball scoring or coming up with ground balls. We’re an exciting, young team.”
Setting the tone: That’s what junior midfielder/faceoff specialist Graham Savio did for Greenwich. Savio won the majority of the faceoffs he took, the last of which sealed the Cardinals’ win with 30 seconds remaining. He scored two of Greenwich’s first three goals in the opening quarter — winning the faceoff and taking the ball all the way to the goal.
“Faceoffs are important because it leads to possession, so it’s a big aspect of the game,” Savio said.
“If he didn’t win the faceoffs as much as he did it could have been a different game,” Bulkley said.
Stepping up: I was impressed with what I saw from Ludlowe senior attack Dan Errett, who recorded a hat trick despite being the center of attention of Greenwich’s defense. Junior attack Jack Palmer (two goals) and junior midfielder Matt Macoy (two goals) also made their presence felt offensively for the Falcons. Drawing the opposition’s best defenders each game,  GHS junior tri-captain Alex Moeser continues to do his part offensively. He had one goal and one assist Saturday, but moved the ball well throughout, and opened up opportunities for his teammates.
Growing up in a hurry: With 10 sophomores and three freshmen on their roster, Greenwich is one of the younger teams in the FCIAC. Many of the underclassmen are getting significant minutes and showing improvement each game. Freshman Decker Curran had two goals, sophomore Kyle Foote scored twice, sophomore Kevin Davis had a key goal, as did sophomores Michael Ellsworth and Michael Flippin.
The week ahead: Greenwich will host Stamford Wednesday, visit Fairfield Warde on Thursday and play host to Lakeland/Panas on Saturday. Ludlowe will visit Southington Wednesday, host Conard on Friday and visit Norwalk on Saturday.

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Clay Barker keyed Darien’s big third quarter: Barker didn’t stuff the scoring sheet in the way many of his teammates did, but he may have played as important of a role as anyone on Saturday. Darien’s dominant third quarter was made by possible by Barker winning nearly every faceoff he took. When he wasn’t busy fighting for possession of the ball on draws, Barker also found time to score a goal of his own.

“Coach Brameier set up some videos where we were able to see them play and kind of get a little scouting report on them,” Darien’s Kevin Seiler said. “We had an idea that they were a really good team.” 

Darien bench plays valuable role: There are many reasons why Darien is such a well-established powerhouse in lacrosse, but here is at least one that may get overlooked: Darien’s reserves get as much playing time as any lacrosse team in the state. By the time the fourth quarter rolls around, Darien often has a substantial lead, and with the game no longer in doubt, coach Jeff Brameier can get his “2’s” into the game for 10-12 minutes. Doing so allows Blue Wave underclassmen to get a pretty big taste of varsity action, and as a result, they’re likely more prepared by the time they reach their junior and senior seasons.

Torrey Pines enjoyed the trip: Although it didn’t get the on-field result it was looking for, Torrey Pines was happy to travel cross country to find out what East Coast lacrosse has to offer. Squaring off against Darien also left Torrey Pines with the impression they’ll be all the more prepared to take on its California competition.

“Coming here and playing the best competition is definitely a great experience, and I think it’ll definitely help us out back home,” Torrey Pines Sean Doyle said.

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A few thoughts from Newtown’s Blue and Gold Stadium, where the Nighthawks held off Weston for an 8-7 win Thursday night to improve to 4-0 (3-0 SWC) in their young conference title defense.

• The Nighthawks boast one of the league’s most potent offensive tandems in Trey Trudell and Justin Brophy, two of their three senior captains. Brophy’s fourth goal was the difference and brought his total to 14. Trudell scored a goal and assisted four others, including two of Brophy’s. He has 19 assists.
• The Trojans are the second team this season to visit Blue and Gold Stadium and leave with a one-goal defeat, the other being New Fairfield (11-10) on Monday. Nighthawks coach Glenn Adams suspects the trend will continue. “In this league, these teams all get up for each other,” Adams said. “But yeah, I think being the defending champs we’re definitely getting everybody’s best shot.”
• A quick #ctfb note: watching Dan Hebert scat around the turf with a lacrosse stick was a reminder that the lightning-quick junior could have a monster senior season in the Nighthawks’ backfield, especially with the graduation of the school’s all-time leading rusher Lou Fenaroli