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From a neutral perspective, Thursday nights showdown between Darien and Wilton had everything you could ask for: organized defenses, excellent team and individual efforts on attack, explosive athleticism in transition and even a little physicality that added to the spectacle.

OK, it was a lot of physicality and, according to Blue Wave coach Jeff Brameier, it went a little too far.

“We weathered the storm to a degree, I hate losing a kid for a game and we had a big game coming up on Saturday and he has to sit,” Bremeier said. “I just think the end of the game stuff got too crazy and unsportsmanlike on both parts. I think the officials for the better part of it; not keeping it under control.”

The kid he is referring to is Peter Gesualdi, who was in the middle of a sideline scuffle with eight seconds remaining in the game. Darien had successfully run out most of the remaining clock after regaining possession with a 12-10 lead with 2:10 remaining. However, the Warriors regained possession with less than 30 seconds left and headed up the sideline. Wilton’s ball carrier was shoved into the bench, which sparked pushing and shoving from both sides.

“You had kids playing with a lot of energy and intensity,” Wilton coach John Wiseman said. “We obviously don’t condone fighting or anything like that but the reality is these kids with tremendous energy, heart and passion and for that I’m incredibly proud of them.”

Penalties marred the fourth quarter, which was somewhat surprising given how relatively clean the first three periods were played. Wilton went into beast mode near the end of the third quarter, scoring three quick ones to cut a five goal Darien advantage to just 9-7 entering the final frame.

With 8:43 left and the Warriors attacking down 9-8, a crosscheck in an attempt to collect a ground ball that resembled a cheap shot resulted in tempers flaring. Both teams had multiple man-up opportunities in the final period as a result.

“It is what it is. It is a rivalry because we have been one of the best teams in the state and the country for a lot of years,” Brameier said. “They were, up until we became the guys and we are going to get everybody’s best punch, literally, and that’s what we got tonight.”

The climax of the game was somewhat disappointing, because it seemed the chippiness overtook the game more than it should have. Both sides are capable of playing some outstanding lacrosse and while we saw that in spurts the desire to prove which team was tougher overshadowed the game to decide which team was better.

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It’s tough to keep track of the amount of goals the Greenwich High School girls lacrosse team scores each game.

After coasting to a 17-8 win vs. Fairfield Ludlowe in their season-opener, the Cardinals put even more goals on the scoreboard Friday against Cheshire. Senior standout Emily Johnson scored a game-high seven goals, while senior midfielder Emma Christie scored four times for Greenwich in its 18-10 victory over Cheshire in what was a rematch of last season’s Class L final.

Greenwich put this game away in the second half, outscoring the Rams 12-5. The pivotal stretch was a nine-minute span during the second half that saw the Cards score seven unanswered goals. Besides the goals, what was impressive about this performance was the ball movement and efficiency the Cardinals showed while running their offense.

“Our team chemistry is great,” said Johnson, a quad-captain. “We have all known each other for a while and have all been friends since Day 1, so we’re always clicking out there.”

Said Christie, a quad-captain: “We were faster and really used our speed to our advantage today.”

Quad-captain Sophie Waine (two goals), Carolyn Paletta (two goals, two assists), Jenny Goggin (two goals), Sarah Rider (one goal, one assist) and Anne Dunster (three goals) also had big games for Greenwich, which flourished on the faceoffs thanks to Paletta, who won the majority she took in the second half, much to the dismay of Cheshire coach Dan Warburton.

“I thought we were doing a nice job defensively in the first half, then we stopped winning the draw,” Warburton said. “We had a hard time winning the draw and you can’t let a great team like Greenwich stay on offense the whole time.”

I talked to GHS coach Caitlin Keane after the game and she told me how impressed she was with the effort she received from defenders Natalie Paletta, Claire O’Connor and quad-captain Mollie Haimerl.

“The three of them are the heart of the defense back there,” Keane said. “Molli has stepped it up huge for us. They’re talking, communicating and really getting it done.”

So are the Cardinals’ young goalies. Freshman Caroline Schultz made five saves in the first half Friday, while Kyle Ginsberg, who plays goalie for the school’s soccer team, had eight saves.

“Our two brand new goalies, one of whom is a soccer goalie, who just picked up a stick three weeks ago, are very energetic,” Keane said. “Being able to use both of them has been great. They have been fantastic.”

GHS will be in action again on Saturday against visiting Danbury at 11 a.m.

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Darien High’s senior trio of Tony Britton, Case Matheis and Henry West nearly lead the North team to victory in the Under Armour All-America Lacrosse Classic at Towson University’s Unitas Stadium in Md. on Saturday.
West finished with a goal and an assist while Matheis had an asisst in the North’s 12-11 loss to the South. Britton, a defender, had four groundballs and was a starter along with Matheis.
Also coming off the bench for the North team was Greenwich’s Ian Ardrey, a Harvard-bound attack from Deerfield Academy who notched his team’s first goal of the night with the South up 2-0.
West, who is headed for Cornell, cut into the South lead with an unassisted tally at the 6:50 mark of the second quarter. Matheis, who will play at Duke, assisted Devin Dwyer (Garden City) in the third quarter, trimming the South lead to 10-8. West found Mikey Morris (Oakville, ON) to open the fourth quarter scoring and pull the North within 11-9.
The South team, which never trailed, was lead by MVP Gordie Koerber (Baltimore). The Denver-bound Gilman graduate scored three goals on three shots.