Archive for the ‘General’ Category

Video Spotlight: Darien’s Taylor Hardison discusses state title

Saturday, June 8, 2013 by:Dave Ruden

The Darien girls lacrosse team enjoyed a coronation on Saturday afternoon, completing an undefeated season against state teams with a convincing 18-6 win over Greenwich in the Division L final.

The Blue Wave won their sixth state title and first since 2011. They outscored their three opponents in the tournament by an eye-opening 58-12 margin.

Darien finished the season with a 21-1 record. The lone loss was a 12-11 double-overtime decision to nationally ranked Garden City, N.Y.

(For what it is worth, an area lacrosse expert told me this may be the best Darien team ever.)

One of the many senior leaders for the Blue Wave is Taylor Hardison, who finished with 3 goals and 5 assists.

I caught up with her after Saturday’s game to discuss the win — and the season.

(I invite you to follow me on Twitter: @DaveRuden and like the Overtime Facebook fan page.)

Prep cools down Staples’ hot start to win L state title

Saturday, June 8, 2013 by:Doug Bonjour

One after another, the goals came surprisingly early for Staples High in its Division L state championship clash with mighty Fairfield Prep Saturday in Norwalk.

The third-seeded Wreckers, a decided underdog against defending champion Prep, the No. 4 seed, led 4-1 after nine minutes, 5-4 at halftime and 8-5 with 2:21 remaining in the third.

Staples’ Jack Greenwald is checked in the neck for a penalty during Saturday’s Class L lacrosse final against Fairfield Prep. The Jesuits won 14-8. (J. Gregory Raymond/For Hearst Newspapers)

But Riley Hoffman’s fast-break goal for Prep with 2:11 in the third jump-started a 9-0 scoring barrage as the Jesuits upended Staples 14-8 for their sixth state title.

Staples (16-5), which was able to slow down and frustrate No. 2 Simsbury in a 4-2 semifinal win Wednesday, could only stick to that same style for so long against the state’s best.

“We executed our game plan very well,” Staples coach Paul McNulty said. “Just slow the ball down, keep it away from Prep.”

With Jared Levi dominating faceoffs in the first half, the Wreckers controlled possession and in hand, dictated the tempo.

“At the beginning of the game we thought we had them,” said Staples attack Colin Bannon, who scored three goals. “Everything was clicking on all cylinders, defense was looking great.”

X MARKS THE SPOT: Trailing by a goal at halftime, Prep handed its faceoff duties over to long-pole Andrew Hatton. The move paid dividends, as Hatton won nine of the 10 faceoffs he took. Once the Jesuits reclaimed possession, their offense worked to precision.

“My coach put me in that position against Delbarton (N.J.) midway through the season (9-5 loss) and it went relatively well,” said Hatton, a Westporter. “Basically my only job is to scrap and try to compete to get the ball. So I did that.”

Once Hatton tied up the faceoffs, teammates Strecker Backe and Riley Hoffman were flanked on each side to scoop the ball up.

“The wing play was unbelievable,” Hatton said. “They picked up half the balls from the faceoff X. They did a great job.”

Prep tied it 8-8 after three quarters with goals from Kevin Brown with 1:23 left and from David White with three seconds remaining.

“We knew they were very good,” McNulty said. “Whatever happened, we just had to keep trying to execute what we had planned. But that little spurt there where they got all the faceoffs and the goals, that was the difference in the game.”

Staples’ appearance in the state final was their first since the two division format back in 1999, an 11-8 loss to South Windsor. The Wreckers knocked off No. 14 Conard, 9-4, No. 6 Greenwich, 6-5, and No. 2 Simsbury, 4-2, along their surprising run. “We never thought we’d get here, but we lit a fire under our butts and kicked it into action,” Bannon said.

Despite the loss, the Wreckers took some consolation, as McNulty noted that the Wreckers were the last public school standing in Division L. “We beat Simsbury,” McNulty said, “and I think that’s for the public school championship of Connecticut. Everyone on our team lives in our town. … What’s great about them is they’ve been playing on their youth Westport lacrosse team since third grade. They’ve been riding on the bus since elementary school together.”

Live Updates: Boys and Girls State Lacrosse Championships

Saturday, June 8, 2013 by:Sean Patrick Bowley

St. Joseph’s lacrosse team will play Weston in the Class S final today at 6

It’s state championship Saturday and the rains of the previous days have abated. Not that it would have affected the CIAC Lacrosse Championships.

Here’s what we know: Fairfield County will rule. The entire boys field is comprised of teams from the SWC, FCIAC and the SCC’s Fairfield Prep — all Fairfield County schools.

Here’s the schedule. Follow the window below for all the action from writers across the state, including intrepid reporters from Hearst Connecticut Media.

You can always check out CIACSports.com to get additional information.

CLASS M Boys — Barlow vs. Wilton, 11 a.m.
CLASS S Girls — Weston vs. Haddam-Killingworth, 11 a.m.
CLASS L Girls — Greenwich vs. Darien, 1 p.m.
CLASS L Boys — Fairfield Prep vs. Staples, 1:30 p.m.
CLASS M Girls — New Canaan vs. Wilton, 3 p.m.
Class S Boys — St. Joseph vs. Weston, 6 p.m.

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Fourth quarter flurry leads Fairfield Prep past Ridgefield

Thursday, June 6, 2013 by:Dave Fierro

Fairfield Prep advanced to the Class L final with a 12-9 win vs. Ridgefield. Jason Rearick photo

A one-goal Ridgefield lead turned into a five-goal Fairfield Prep advantage during a pivotal four-minute span in the fourth quarter of Wednesday night’s Division L lacrosse semifinals. That scoring spurt was enough to send the fourth-seeded Jesuits to familiar territory – the Division L final.

Senior attack Kevin Brown scored a game-high five goals, while Tim Edmonds had a hat trick in Fairfield Prep’s 12-9 win over top-seeded Ridgefield at Jack Casagrande Field. Calvin Dearth scored three times, while Brett Baker and William Bonaparte each tallied twice for the Tigers, who led 7-6 after three quarters. Fairfield Prep, which has played in the title game eight straight years, will play third-seeded Staples on Saturday at Casagrande Field. Here’s a look at what happened in the game-changing fourth quarter – a quarter that saw the Jesuits outscore the Tigers, 6-2, along with some of the game’s key factors.

WAS IT A GOAL?: After Dylan Maher gave the Tigers a 7-6 edge with 2:29 left in the third quarter, Ridgefield thought it took an 8-6 lead on what looked to be another goal by Dearth. Yet the officials ruled the shot deflected off the crossbar and the scored remained 7-6.

“We were up by one, then we should have gotten that goal to go up by two,” Ridgefield coach Roy Colsey said. “Instead, one of my kids says something to the ref, they give us a one-minute non releasable penalty and they scored two goals, so we went from being up two to down one.”

Fairfield Prep had the better of the play in the fourth quarter though, effectively running its motion offense against Ridgefield’s trademark zone defense.

SOLVING THE ZONE: It took a while, but the Jesuits figured out what worked best against the Tigers’ zone.

“Coach set up a great motion offense up for us against this zone,” Brown said. “We had a lot of players dodging and moving and I found myself open for some scoring opportunities. We tried to get a lot of 3 vs. 2 situations and used some skip passes to get open shots. It’s a pretty complex zone and they do a great job of executing it. But I thought we did a pretty good job against it.”

FOREIT A FORCE ON FACEOFFS: Prep got into a rhythm of winning the faceoff, then quickly scoring in the final quarter, thanks to senior Troy Foreit at the faceoff X.

“He has been our best player in a lot of our games this year,” Prep coach Chris Smalkais said. “He is a warrior and he loves the challenge of competing in games like this. He’s a Norwalk kid, so playing here tonight on this field was an exciting opportunity for him.”

“Troy made it a make it take it game, where for a few minutes there he was winning the faceoff and we were scoring,” Brown said.

CANNING THEIR SHOTS: Following a back-and-forth first half that saw Ridgefield bring a 5-4 lead into intermission, the Jesuits had more possession in the third quarter, but the Tigers still had a one-goal lead heading into the final quarter. Prep, however, began converting its shots in the fourth. At one point, they found the back of the net on four of five attempts.

“We moved the ball, got out in transition a little bit and fine tuned our finishes,” Brown said. “That enabled us to score.”

Prep outshot Ridgefield 31-25 for the game and had a 20-10 shots advantage in the second half.

WHAT THEY HAD TO SAY: Smalkais: “We challenged our players. We said, you don’t want to be the senior class not to make it to the final. It’s an honor and privilege to coach these wonderful group of guys. We’re excited for the opportunity to play on Saturday.”

Colsey: “You set high goals for yourself, so it’s tough when you lose after making it so far. I’m proud of the team for having a great season.”

THEY’RE NO STRANGERS: Prior to Wednesday’s game, Ridgefield and Fairfield Prep met in the L finals in three of the previous four seasons. Prep edged Ridgefield for the title a year ago, 8-6. Ridgefield took an 11-10 decision from the Jesuits for the L crown in 2011 and Prep pulled out a 15-14 decision in 2008.

Barlow edges New Canaan in an OT classic

Thursday, June 6, 2013 by:Dave Fierro

Joel Barlow's Stephen Miller, left and Max Cammarota, celebrate Jack Shaban's game-tying goal during Wedesday's Class M semifinal round game against New Canaan. Jason Rearick photo

Joel Barlow’s Stephen Miller, left and Max Cammarota, celebrate Jack Shaban’sgame-tying goal during Wedesday’s Class M semifinal against New Canaan. (Jason Rearick/Staff photographer)

Holding a two-goal lead, New Canaan was less than one minute away from celebrating a victory over Joel Barlow in the semifinal round of the CIAC Class M boys lacrosse tournament Wednesday evening. Eagerly checking the clock on the scoreboard, the Rams’ players on the sideline were poised to run onto Jack Casagrande Field to rejoice in the team’s accomplishment. But the never-say-die Falcons had other ideas.

In a comeback for the ages, second-seeded Barlow scored twice the final 51.2 seconds of regulation, then tallied with just 3.5 seconds left in sudden death overtime to pull out a dramatic 5-4 win over third-seeded New Canaan in one of the most memorable finishes the Class M Tournament has ever seen.

While the Rams walked off the field in disbelief, the Falcons basked in the glory of their latest victory – a triumph sending them into Saturday’s Class L final against Wilton. Here’s a look at how everything played out during the final, pivotal minutes of play along with the key factors of this overtime thriller.

ANATOMY OF A COMEBACK: With his team trailing 4-2, Zach Pompea got the wheels in motion for Barlow, scoring off a feed from Liam Rooney, making it a 4-3 game with 51 seconds left to play. After Barlow won the ensuing faceoff, the game’s hero, junior Jack Shaban, took center stage. Making a strong run to the goal, Shaban converted a perimeter shot from the right side with 22 seconds remaining, knotting the score at 4-4. Then came overtime. It looked as though the Rams and Falcons would need another overtime session to settle the score, but Shaban beat the clock, tallying off a pass from Pompea just before the extra quarter ended. Shaban described to me how the play unfolded.

“We set the play up to get Pompea in a 1-on-1 situation, he put a good move on the defender the slide went to him and I ended up being open,” said a smiling Shaban, who recorded a hat trick. “I was the lucky one.”

The Falcons junior felt he had to redeem himself a bit prior to scoring the tying and game-winning goals.

“I had a rough second half before that,” he said. “I had a couple of dumb turnovers, so I wanted to make it up to my team. When I got the ball late in the game, I was like ‘I’m going to the cage. I was lucky to have those shots go in.”

DEFENSIVE STRUGGLE: New Canaan senior Puck Richardson scored the game’s first goal off a man-up situation 2:13 into first quarter, then Shaban tallied the equalizer at the 6:47 mark. What followed was scoreless lacrosse for the next 25:40.

“I didn’t expect this to be such a low scoring game,” said Barlow coach John Distler, who guided Barlow to the SWC championship. “They have a good attack and so do we, but we both have a good defense.”

So what did the Falcons do to slow down the Rams offensively?

“We scrimmaged them during the preseason, so we knew they had two very good attackmen, Puck Richardson and Henry Stanton and our goals were to try to shut them down, along with (Teddy) Bossidy,” Distler said. “My short stick defensive middies did a nice job on their middies, that’s why it was such a low scoring game.”

SECOND QUARTER SCORING DROUGHT: Barlow and New Canaan each yielded only one opponent to score in double digits all season and the two squads showed why Wednesday. Behind Eric Persky, John Rhudy and Thomas Costigan, the Rams forced several turnovers in the second quarter, while making the Falcons work hard for their shots. The same could be said for Barlow, which was led defensively by Jack Healy and Conn Curry.

“This was by far the most physical game we played all year,” said New Canaan coach Chip Buzzeo, who concluded his first year at the helm, a season that saw him lead the Rams to the FCIAC title. “Barlow had a great game plan. They rode us better than any other team did.”

GIVE IT UP FOR THE GOALIES: Senior Cooper Brown made 11 saves for Barlow, while junior Trent Nader stopped 10 shots for New Canaan. As was the case throughout the season, the two netminders were at their best throughout.

“Trent’s one of the best goalies in the state,” Buzzeo said. “He’s been outstanding for us all year. The goals they scored were great goals.”

Said Distler: “Cooper Brown came up big, making some saves off point-blank shots.”

WHAT THEY HAD TO SAY: Buzzeo: “They had the momentum, you never want to go into overtime with the other team scoring the last two goals of the game. Hats off to coach Distler and the entire Joel Barlow team. We haven’t played a team all year long that played as hard as they did today.”

Shaban: “When we were down by two goals we never gave up. Coach was saying, you can score goals quickly in the game of lacrosse. His message was not to give up and that we can score goals fast. We felt like we had the momentum going into overtime.”

Greenwich, Darien reach final destination

Wednesday, June 5, 2013 by:Dave Fierro

Darien and Greenwich will face each other in the Class L finals on Saturday at Bunnell High School. Bob Luckey photo

Round 2 of one of the biggest rivalries in FCIAC girls lacrosse will take place Saturday when Darien and Greenwich – two teams that have been contenders in their conference for years – duel, this time for the state championship.

The Cardinals and Blue Wave, who met in the 2012 FCIAC finals, won by Darien, each advanced to the CIAC Class L finals Tuesday with impressive victories. Second-seeded Darien downed third-seeded Hall of West Hartford, 14-7, while fourth-seeded Greenwich eliminated top-seeded Glastonbury, 11-8. Here’s the game story featuring both team’s victories bit.ly/11jKtcy

Let’s take a closer look at both games, then check out how the Blue Wave and the two-time defending Class L champion Cardinals match up.

GREENWICH VS. GLASTONBURY

SPEED DEMONS: Glastonbury, which entered the game with just one loss, gave a valiant effort, but it was apparent as the game progressed that the Tomahawks didn’t possess the Cardinals’ speed. Junior midfielder Carolyn Paletta (2 goals) was a tough matchup for Glastonbury the whole game, as was Emma Christie.

CHRISTIE CATCHING FIRE: Christie, a senior, played in the Class L championship three times her first three years on the varsity team and she wasn’t going to be denied a fourth appearance in the title game. Christie scored four of her game-high five goals in the first half and each one proved to be crucial, as the Cards entered halftime with just a 6-5 edge.

“We knew it was going to be a close game and when it was close in the second half we knew our season could be over if we didn’t step it up,” Christie said.

Said GHS coach Caitlin Keane: “Emma has natural ability. She has such a quick shot off the crease rolls.”

JOHNSON’S JOLT OFF THE BENCH: Senior midfielder Emily Johnson, one of the Cardinals’ leading scorers, played a limited amount of minutes because she was ill, suffering the effects of a fever. Yet Johnson came off the bench and scored three goals in the second half, two of which pulled Greenwich even at 8-8. After a Glastonbury player was charged with a yellow card, Johnson scored a man-up goal, dodging a pair of defenders along the way, making it 8-7 with 14:15 left to play. At the 13:06 mark, she weaved her way between two defenders before unleashing her shot from close range, tying the score at 8-8.

GINSBERG’S GREAT DEBUT: A soccer goalie in the fall, sophomore Kylie Ginsberg decided to give lacrosse a try in the spring. The Cardinals are sure glad she made that decision. Besides being solid all year in goal, Ginsberg rose to the occasion in her first appearance in the state tournament, making nine saves Tuesday.

“She has never played in this tournament before, this is all new to her,” Keane said. “She’s played so well all season and she’s worked very hard, staying after practice to improve her skills.”

WHAT THEY HAD TO SAY: Carolyn Paletta: “It’s nice to advance to the finals again, especially for our seniors. We all worked hard to get there for them and the hard work has paid off.”

Glastonbury coach Kris Cofiell: “Greenwich had experience over us. They’re an FCIAC team, they beat us two years ago in the state finals (a 12-10 Cardinals victory) and they play in these type of games all the time. If you told me we would be in the state semifinals before the season started I wouldn’t believe it. We had a great season.”

DARIEN VS. HALL

Hall came out and effectively slowed the game down the first 10 minutes or so. The Warriors had a couple of good defensive stands during Darien’s first two possessions and had some chances to score the game’s first goal. But the Blue Wave withstood Hall’s solid start with strong defensive of their own, then imposed their will.

FANTASTIC FOUR MINUTES: A scoreless game turned into a 7-0 Darien lead in a matter of 4 minutes, 11 seconds. Hollis Perticone lit the scoreboard first, converting a free position shot. Dillon Schoen followed with a goal off a 1-on-1 move, then Jena Fritts tallied, making the score 3-1 in a 1:30 span. Darien was just getting warmed up, as Kristen Gilbert scored and Schoen added two more goals, putting Hall in a 7-0 hole.

DYNAMIC DEFENSE: “Our defense played an overall great game,” Darien coach Lisa Lindley said. “Hall was very patient at the start of the first half and we didn’t have many chances to score, so it took us a while to get going offensively. But our defense kept it a scoreless game.”

Vanessa Budd, Lauren Pryor, and Jacqueline Brokaw helped lead Darien’s defense, while Caylee Waters (8 saves) was outstanding in goal once again.

Let’s take a look at how Darien and Greenwich’s last meeting went on May 7.

I couldn’t tell the difference between the two teams, as Greenwich came out strong, led 7-5 at one point and entered halftime with a 7-6 edge. The second half was a different story. Darien outscored Greenwich 11-2 in the second half and left its home field with a 17-9 victory.

Emily Stein hurt the Cardinals, scoring six goals. Taylor Hardison was also a force scoring twice, while registering five assists. Draw control was a big reason for the turnaround in the second half. Lindley relied on Ellie Bennett to take the draws in the second half and Bennett responded, consistently helping her squad gain possession. Darien posted a 17-14 win over the Cardinals in last year’s FCIAC title game.

A look at the first round of the state tournaments

Thursday, May 30, 2013 by:Dave Fierro

Wednesday was a busy lacrosse day as the Class L, M and S state tournaments each held their first round games. Let’s take a look at what transpired.

Class L: Top-seeded Ridgefield cruised past No. 17 Cheshire, 19-4. The Tigers will host eighth-seeded Glastonbury in Saturday’s 3 p.m. quarterfinals. Glastonbury advanced with an 11-3 win vs. ninth-seeded New Milford. Ridgefield and Glastonbury did not meet during the regular season.

Fourth-seeded Fairfield Prep eliminated No. 13 Amity, 14-4. The defending Class L champion Jesuits will play the winner of fifth-seeded Xavier and No. 12 Fairfield Ludlowe in the quarterfinal round. Their game was postponed until Thursday. Fairfield Prep did not play Ludlowe during the regular season, but routed Xavier, 17-2, on May 13.

Second-seeded Simsbury got past No. 15 Brien McMahon, 11-6 in Wednesday’s opening round. Simsbury will host No. 7 Southington in Saturday’s quarterfinals.

Third-seeded Staples gets a third chance at Greenwich. The Wreckers moved on, upending No. 14 Conard, 9-4 in the first round. Meanwhile, the sixth-seeded Cardinals, downed No. 11 Newtown, 11-5. Greenwich is already 2-0 against the Wreckers this spring. The Cards registered an 8-3 win vs. the Wreckers on April 9, before posting an 11-8 victory in the quarterfinals of the FCIAC Tournament.

Class M: The FCIAC also showed its strength in this tournament, as 17th-seeded Wilton knocked off top-seeded and previously undefeated Avon, 15-9. Michael Burns scored four goals, while Ted Ottens had two for the Warriors.

Ninth-seeded Darien topped eighth-seeded Daniel Hand, 11-7,in the opening round, setting up Saturday’s quarterfinal round matchup against visiting Wilton. The Blue Wave beat the Warriors 12-10 in the regular season and registered a 9-6 win in the FCIAC Tournament.

Fourth-seeded Guilford beat No. 13 Masuk 16-3 and will face fifth-seeded New Fairfield in Saturday’s quarterfinals. New Fairfield advanced by downing No. 12 Fairfield Warde, 12-6.

Second seeded Joel Barlow coasted past No. 15 Branford 14-1 and will host No. 7 Bethel on Saturday. Bethel ousted No. 10 Farmington 10-6.

Third-seeded New Canaan, fresh off winning its second straight FCIAC title, will play host to No. 6 East Lyme in Saturday’s quarterfinals. The Rams were at their best defensively, routing No. 19 Waterford, 16-0, in Wednesday’s opening round. East Lyme beat Notre Dame West Haven, 8-4.

Darien is the defending Class M champion, while Wilton won the title in 2011.

Class S: Top-seeded Stonington routed No. 16 Old Lyme in Wednesday’s opening round and will host No. 9 Valley Regional in Saturday’s quarterfinals. This will be their first meeting of the season.

Fifth-seeded Old Saybrook edged No. 12 Granby 8-7, and will face either No. 4 Somers or No. 13 St. Joseph in the quarterfinals. Somers and St. Joseph are scheduled to play Thursday.

No. 15 Weston upset No. 2 Brookfield, 11-7 in Wednesday’s opening round. Sean Fumai and Austin Drimal each scored three goals to propel Weston to the quarterfinals, where it will play seventh-seeded East Catholic – a 15-3 winner over No. 10 Lewis Mills.

Third-seeded Tolland pulled out a 7-6 win vs. No. 14 NW Catholic. Tolland faces No. 6 Morgan in the quarterfinals. Morgan beat No. 11 Bacon Academy, 20-7. The two teams did not meet during the regular season.

Sweet repeat for New Canaan boys lacrosse team

Saturday, May 25, 2013 by:Dave Fierro

Greenwich’s Kelley Jay, left, and Puck Richardson of New Canaan in action during Friday’s FCIAC boys lacrosse final. Bob Luckey photo

From 2004-2011, the New Canaan boys lacrosse team came oh so close to winning the FCIAC championship, falling four times in the conference title game. The last two years, the Rams have taken home the title. Yes, something special is brewing in New Canaan, which won its ninth FCIAC championship Friday with an 8-5 victory over Greenwich at Brien McMahon High School’s Jack Casagande Field.

With the Rams and Cardinals almost matching each other goal for goal in a first quarter that saw New Canaan hold a 4-3 edge, it seemed like Friday’s game was going to be a high-scoring showdown. Yet as the game progressed, both teams clamped down defensively and opportunities to take clear shots on goal were few and far between. Here’s a look at the game.

OFFENSIVE FIRST QUARTER: Both teams executed pretty well offensively in the opening quarter, combining for seven goals. Greenwich, which received another strong performance from faceoff specialist Graham Savio, scored on three of its first five possessions, while New Canaan capitalized on some key ground balls it scooped up near the goal.

“I was really happy with the way we played offensively,” GHS coach Scott Bulkley said. “We had some good possessions, took some good shots. I thought our shot selection later in the game wasn’t where I wanted it to go. They capitalized on some mistakes we made in the middle of the field and we were able to get some quick goals to keep the game close and tied.”

After James Paradise gave Greenwich a 3-2 lead by converting his perimeter shot from 15 yards out with 5:11 to go in the first quarter, New Canaan scored a pair of goals in a 1:51 span to take the lead for good at 4-3. Senior Duke Repko scooped up a ground ball near the crease and stuffed a short shot home for the equalizer and game MVP Henry Stanton scored the go-ahead goal with 1:38 left in the quarter.

SCORELESS THIRD QUARTER: The Cardinals had several long possessions in the third quarter, but couldn’t draw even after going into halftime with a 6-5 deficit. The Rams’ short stick midfielders were the difference makes, holding off the Cardinals attackmen in the second half.

“They took our middies behind and tried to dodge on them,” New Canaan senior defensive standout Eric Persky said. “So we had four poles up top and that made it a little easier to keep them out of the middle. I thought our D middies did a great job of containing them and denying easy passing opportunities.” Along with Persky, Tommy Costigan, John Rhudy, Jack Gilio, Jack Isherwood and Graham Wagner sparked the Rams defensively.

STRIKING QUICKLY: Leading 4-3, the Rams scored twice in 15 seconds to open a 6-3 advantage — a spurt that proved to be one of the pivotal moments of the game. Stanton scored on a nice feed from behind from Puck Richardson at the 8:46 mark and Teddy Bossidy tallied 15 seconds later. Greenwich closed to within 6-5 at halftime, but never got over the hump.

GOOD GOALIES: This matchup featured two of the better goalies in the FCIAC in New Canaan’s Trent Nader and Greenwich’s William Waesche. Nader made 12 saves, seven of which came during the second half, while Waesche stopped nine shots.

DAZZLING DEBUT: A 1996 New Canaan High graduate, Chip Buzzeo, who was an All-American, All-state player for the Rams, took over as head coach this season, replacing Alex Whitten, who guided the Rams to the FCIAC crown a year ago. Whitten moved to North Carolina.

“Working with this group, especially this senior class — they welcomed me. For them to win this game the way they did, I couldn’t be more prouder of them,” Buzzeo said. “As a player I’ve been in some big games. But as a coach, this is a different feeling. It’s going to take a few days to sink in.”

CARDINALS BIT BY INJURY BUG: Greenwich wasn’t helped by the fact that leading scorer Kyle Foote, a junior midfielder, got hurt during the first half and was sidelined for the second. Greenwich was already without attackman Decker Curran.

“It limits us on certain things we can do,” Bulkley said. “It’s not an excuse, it just limits certain things we can run offensively.”

WHAT THEY HAD TO SAY: Chip Buzzeo: “Greenwich is a great team. They beat a great Ridgefield team and they are going to do well in the state tournament. Our defense stepped up in the second half, which is incredible with the guys they have on offense.”

Scott Bulkley: “This game could have gone either way, but they capitalized on their opportunities and we did not and that’s why they’re the FCIAC champions. You don’t like losing in a game like this, but hopefully this will motivate us to make a run in the state tournament. I thought we fought here today, we held together and played really well.”

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