Greenwich’s Oberbeck leads Yale’s resurgence

Thursday, May 16, 2013 by:Chris McNamee

Yale’s Conrad Oberback, a Greenwich native, has played a key role in the Bulldogs’ NCAA tournament run. (Patrick Shanahan/Yale Athletics)

Why not the lacrosse team too? No one really gave the Yale men’s ice hockey team a snowball’s chance in Miami when the Bulldogs entered the NCAA tournament. Yet all the Bulldogs did was keep winning, all the way to the Frozen Four, all the way to the National Title.

When the Yale men’s lacrosse team earned a spot in the NCAA men’s lacrosse tournament, it was good for a chuckle on campus. “Wouldn’t it be cool if the lacrosse team won a national championship too?”

“Yeah, that would be awesome, wouldn’t it?” And that was that.

Now? It’s time for everyone to start taking Yale a little bit more seriously. The Bulldogs upended No. 8 Penn State on the road in the opening round of the NCAA Tournament last Saturday, and one of the catalysts in the 9-6 come-from-behind win was sophomore attack Conrad Oberbeck.

Oberbeck, a Brunswick School graduate and Greenwich native, registered three goals and an assist in the historic win.

“We’re really excited,” said Oberbeck, who was the ESPNU Player of the Game in the win over Penn State. “It’s the first NCAA win for Yale since 1992, so I’m definitely happy to have been a part of the program’s resurgence. Our alumni are fired up and it’s been a lot of fun.”

Yale’s reward for upsetting Penn State is a date in the quarterfinals on Saturday against No. 1 Syracuse at Capital One Field in College Park, Md at 3 p.m. (ESPN2). Another seemingly insurmountable task. But, hey why not Yale? It wouldn’t be the first time.

“We’re friends with a lot of the guys on the hockey team and we joke about it (the lacrosse team winning in NCAAs),” Oberbeck said. “I think we’re always inspired by other teams at the University. Especially the way they (the hockey team) did it, battling back as the last seed to get in.”

Yale’s chances of winning will certainly be enhanced if it gets another big game from Oberbeck. The talented Oberbeck scored six goals — one short of the school’s sophomore record set in 1958 — against Albany earlier this season. He is second on the team with 34 goals.

An opportunity to play as a true freshman last season (20 goals, 26 points), is clearly paying dividends in 2013 for Oberbeck and coach Andy Shay.

“I’ve improved from last year,” Oberbeck said. “Last year I played with Matt Gibson, whose is now in the NLL (with the Minnesota Swarm), and he’s a dodger. I learned a lot of crafty things from Matt. Very crafty moves you can’t read on paper, you have to learn by watching. I’m handling the ball more and I use those things I learned last year. I was so happy to have had that advice from such an experienced and good player.”

As for the Orange, Oberbeck sees Yale’s defense as the difference maker.

“The key is our defense. We really rally around our defense,” Oberbeck said. “Against Penn State, even though we were down 5-1 and our offense was stalling, they really held us in the game. That’s the great thing about our team.”

Oberbeck isn’t the only Connecticut player on the Yale roster. John Ambrose (Staples), David Better (Brunswick/Greenwich), Jimmy Craft (Brusnwick/Darien), Michael Lipin (St. Andrew’s/New Haven), Jackson Logie (Deerfield/New Canaan) and Ryan McCarthy (Glastonbury) all suit up for the Bulldogs.

Categories: General

FCIAC Boys Lacrosse Pairings

Wednesday, May 15, 2013 by:Chris McNamee

The pairings for the FCIAC boys lacrosse tournament were announced Wednesday night.

Quarterfinals, Saturday

No. 5 Staples at No. 4 Greenwich 11 a.m.
No. 6 Wilton at No. 3 Darien, 1 p.m.
No. 8 Ludlowe at No. 1 Ridgefield, 1 p.m.
No. 7 St Joseph at No. 2 New Canaan, 6:30 p.m.

Semifinals, Tuesday

at Brien McMahon in Norwalk, 5:15 and 7 p.m.

Final

at Brien McMahon in Norwalk 7 p.m.

Categories: FCIAC, General

FCIAC Girls Lacrosse Playoff Preview

Wednesday, May 15, 2013 by:Ryan Lacey

Darien’s Taylor Hardison (27) is one of the best attack in the FCIAC.

This is the 21^st edition of the FCIAC girls lacrosse tournament, and only four schools have ever claimed the trophy as winners of the conference.

It comes as no surprise that those four teams — Darien (11 times winners), New Canaan (one), Greenwich (two) and Wilton (six) — are the favorites to hoist the trophy in 2013.

Can the Cardinals, Rams or Warriors dethrone the Blue Wave?

New Canaan has, arguably, the best player in the state in Olivia Hompe and an outstanding defense-goalie combination that can put the clamps down on the opposition.

Greenwich can trade goals with anyone. With Emily Johnson, Carolyn Paletta and Emma Christie, the Cardinals have a unique blend of power, pace and intelligence. They are a team that thrives in transition.

New Canaan’s Olivia Hompe is arguable the best player in the talent-ladne FCIAC.

Team to beat: Darien

The defending champions are always the team to beat once the postseason begins, and this is no exception. The Blue Wave have run through their conference schedule, winning each of their 12 games by at least seven goals. Even in games that were tight through 25 minutes – see Greenwich and Wilton – Darien found its extra gear to destroy its opponent in the second half. The way they have performed this year, it’s the Blue Wave’s to lose.

Sleeper: Wilton

Winners of three of the last five FCIAC titles, the Warriors enter this postseason slightly off the radar. This is largely due to two of their top players, seniors Casey Pearsall and Megan Boepple, missing the entire campaign with ACL injuries. Tegan Helms has carried the load thus far and Wilton has played the other contenders tough. Will its pedigree lead to an upset of Darien?

Most interesting storyline: Can Danbury challenge the elite?

After going the 19-12 past two years, the Hatters posted an eye-popping 12-3 campaign and a 9-1 conference record. Although they avoided New Canaan, Darien and Wilton in the regular season, the Hatters are a couple of goals away from a 14-1 season and must be taken seriously. The Hatters are led by outstanding goal scorer Raven Winters.

“I always tell my team that we can come out and challenge anybody,” Danbury’s first-year coach Jaime Williams said. “I believe no matter who it is we can come out and win a game. I have nine seniors and I want them to leave doing great things.”

Attack to watch: Taylor Hardison/Darien

The all-American is an outstanding passer, setting a school (not just any school) record for assists in a season as a junior. Along with Kristy Gilbert, Emily Stein and Dillon Schoen, the Darien front line is devastating and a nightmare to defend against.

Midfielder to watch: Olivia Hompe/New Canaan

Who else? Even in a conference with so many outstanding, Division I midfielders, Hompe still somehow manages to shine above the rest. Her final game as a junior was a nine-goal performance in the class M title game and will surely perform just as strong as she wraps up a historic high school career. The icing on the cake would be delivering New Canaan’s first conference crown since the inaugural season (1993).

Defenseman to watch: Wheatley Raabe/New Canaan

A four-year starter that has witnessed the Rams’ slow ascension towards the top of the FCIAC, Raabe excels in all types of defensive sets and has all the physical tools to excel at the next level. Raabe and her defensive teammates will have their hands full should they meet the Blue Wave in the final.

Goalie to watch: Kylie Ginsberg/Greenwich

While New Canaan (Liz O’Sullivan) and Darien (Caylee Waters) have established veterans in the cage, the Cardinals entered the season with an unknown quantity. New to the sport completely, Ginsberg took the starting goalie position in preseason and has yet to look back.

Categories: General

St. Joseph-McMahon: Win on points

Tuesday, May 14, 2013 by:Michael Fornabaio

The best part was hearing that St. Joseph had kind of written off its FCIAC playoff hopes.

But the math gave them a chance. There were 150 power points up for grabs for the Cadets, 140 for McMahon, enough to give either team a spot.

The Cadets jumped out to the early lead. Kurtis Mudre forced a turnover, rushed up the left side, fed Colin Powell for a goal, and they had a lead. They went back-and-forth for most of the first before the Cadets started burying their shots, the third off Fillippo Petrini’s faceoff win. Kyle Souza’s hit knocked Drew D’Antonio off the ball in the closing seconds of the quarter; they rushed, and Chris Colon fed Ryan Corcoran (six goals, two assists) to make it 5-0. Corcoran made it 6-0 in the first minute of the second. They’d grabbed on, and they held on. (Fairfield Ludlowe, in a similar spot, won going away. (Link updated with Pat Pickens’ game story.))

Passing math class, they wait for their political science final and see where the other playoff coaches vote them.

The goalies’ performances get a little lost in a game like this, but both McMahon’s Josh Miller and St. Joseph’s Mike Braddick made some huge early saves. It’s just that, with all the turnovers, St. Joseph kept getting the ball back, kept getting good scoring chances and eventually broke through in bunches. “We didn’t clear the ball well,” Senators coach Mike Epstein said. “Credit to them. They knew what we were going to do. They took advantage.”

What were the Sens going to do? What they did in the fourth — get the ball to their big boys and let good things happen. Zack Bartolo and Drew D’Antonio got the ball, got open space, moved it with authority, took it to the net, scored.

“Let me tell you, Mike’s got some tremendous players,” Cadets coach Joe Izzo said. “Bartolo, D’Antonio, you’ve got to account for those guys every minute they’re on the field. If you don’t mark up — you can’t give those guys an inch to breathe.

“They got loose in the fourth quarter.”

The Senators had no choice but to get “a little more urgent,” as Epstein put it.

They’re healthy, Epstein said; I’d wondered how the team has come back after some injuries, most notably to Bartolo (headed for Notre Dame) and D’Antonio (for Bryant), some of which happened around the time in the middle of the season when the Senators’ schedule shifted into overdrive. I wondered if that combination had broken whatever rhythm they might have managed through their start to the season. “Sometimes kids are just going to make plays,” Epstein said. “Today, we just didn’t do that in the first and second quarters. … Their kids did. Good for them.”

The schedule similarly plays a part in St. Joseph’s year: no longer winning streak or losing streak than three. “This season, with a young team, there was a lot of working out where we have the best matchups,” Mudre said, “who can work well together.” They found a way into the FCIAC tournament, playing on the road somewhere Saturday.

“Listen, always, for us to make the FCIAC tournament, it’s a huge accomplishment,” Izzo said. “We’re in that middle group. We want to break into that top group.”

Categories: FCIAC

Ranked or no, Xavier no match for Fairfield Prep

Monday, May 13, 2013 by:Michael Fornabaio

It’s getting late in the school year. There are distractions, proms, finals, graduations. And in another week, things get serious: postseason lacrosse.

Fairfield Prep may have things it can still work on, but it has certainly been productive offensively, including today’s 17-3 win (game story over a Xavier team that, consensus was, is better than it showed in this one.

“They’re a great team,” Kevin Brown said after a six-goal game. “It’s a good feeling going into the SCC tournament.”

I couldn’t get an official shot total, but I had 23-8 at halftime, which is more or less when the full-blown competitive game ended. That included 16 Jesuits shots in the second quarter, eight of which went in, four of them in just under a minute and a half.

Matt Gajowiak made some big saves for Xavier, but you face that many good shots and you’ll look like this once in a while. (Mark Conrad/For Hearst Newspapers)

Of those 17 goals, 13 had assists. The Jesuits were moving the ball crisply, and they were hitting the net. They took advantage and buried their chances.

They took care of the ball, too. “We didn’t turn the ball over,” Brown said. “We had great clears.” Several goals came in transition.

Not the seventh, though. They had been set up for a while, setting up shots on the left side at least four times. Finally, they got Brown open on the right off a David White pass. Boom: 6-1 Prep with 3:43 left in the second quarter. Then Troy Foreit won the draw, got it to Tim Edmonds, who set up Brown. Then they set it up on the left side again: Tim Edmonds. They forced a turnover, scored on the rush, Tim Edmonds from brother John: 9-1.

Time out, Xavier, 2:15 left in the half. Three more goals and it’s 12-1.

And when the sun came out at halftime (cold and windy otherwise), a crowd suddenly appeared behind the Fairfield Prep bench. They were cheering for the Jesuits, sort of. Mostly, they were chanting for Jesuits assistant Kevin Reda, who kept trying to quiet them down. “I think the key was coach Kevin Reda is graduating from Fairfield Univerity this weekend,” Smalkais said, tongue somewhere near cheek. “His fellow classmates were here. They were inspirational.”

Categories: SCC

Greenwich Academy suffers first loss of the season

Saturday, May 11, 2013 by:Dave Fierro

Izzy Nixon of Greenwich Academy battles for the ball during Saturday’s game. Bob Luckey photo

It took a long while for the Greenwich Academy lacrosse team to suffer its first loss of the 2013 season. The Gators were 13-0 before dropping a 17-14 decision at home to rival Hotchkiss School Saturday and this game took almost four hours due to a thunderstorm that halted played for an hour and 15 minutes.

Lacrosse can be played in heavy rain, but once lightning starts flashing the players have to leave the field and that’s what both teams did. The squads stayed in their respective locker rooms for a while, before they both made their way to the GA gymnasium to warm up. GA started the game strong, jumping out to a 3-1 lead the first eight minutes of play. Hotchkiss tied it at 3-3, then the Gators went up 4-3 on a goal by Lexi Henkel. The Bearcats then went on a 6-0 run to open a 9-4 lead. GA cut the lead to 9-7 at halftime, but that 6-0 spurt during an eight-minute span proved to one of the pivotal stretches of the game. Here’s a look at some of the key factors of the game and some noteworthy items.

DICKSON TOUGH ON THE DRAW: Amie Dickson was difficult to contend with in the circle, winning numerous draw controls for the team. She especially excelled when Hotchkiss scored six unanswered goals in the opening half.

“It’s so critical in this game to control the draw,” GA coach Angela Tammaro said. “We could have done a better job in that area. Hotchkiss’ game revolved around her. She was always making something happen.”

The Dickson name is familiar in town. A Greenwich native, she is the sister of GHS graduate David Dickson, who is playing lacrosse at Bucknell and Marshall Dickson, who plays for Brunswick.

FINISHING STRONG: Greenwich Academy cut Hotchkiss’ advantage to 11-10 with 17 minutes remaining on Sasha Fritts‘ fifth goal of the game. But the Bearcats scored five of the game’s next six goals to go up 16-11 with seven minutes left.

“They are constantly moving, which makes them very tough to defend,” Henkel said. “They are a fast and aggressive team and move of the ball really well.”

BY THE NUMBERS: GA did a good job of taking care of the ball, committing only seven turnovers for the game. Lexie Seidel made eight saves in goal, Lexi Henkel had three goals, Emilia Tapsall had two goals and two assists and Fritts had six goals. The Gators missed their first five shots before scoring their first goal of the game.

RENEWING A RIVALRY: Greenwich Academy will travel to Greenwich High School Tuesday at 4 p.m., for a big matchup against the Cardinals. The two teams didn’t meet last year for the first time in several seasons, so both squads are eage to face each other.

“We are really glad that we’re playing Greenwich this year,” Henkel said. “It’s going to be a great game and we’re all looking forward to it.”

I’ll be writing a preview on the Greenwich High/Greenwich Academy game for Tuesday’s Greenwich Time.

Categories: General

Greenwich’s Oberbeck leads Yale

Saturday, May 11, 2013 by:Scott Ericson

Yale attackman, and Greenwich native, Conrad Oberbeck scored two goals and had an assist as the Bulldogs defeated Penn St. 10-7 in the opening round of the NCAA Men’s lacrosse tournament.

Oberbeck played high school lacrosse at Brunswick.

Categories: General

Greenwich makes a statement with win vs. Darien

Friday, May 10, 2013 by:Dave Fierro

Greenwich High School boys lacrosse coach Scott Bulkley told me following his team’s 8-6 win against Darien Friday that his team’s game against the Blue Wave is one that’s always circled on the schedule.

Greenwich goalie William Waesche made 19 saves in the Cardinals’ 8-6 win vs. Darien on Friday. Bob Luckey photo

“We circle this game because we want to see where we are at the end of the season against this team,” said Bulkley, a star player during his high school lacrosse career at Darien. “Darien is the staple of where you would want your program to be. They do a good job from top to bottom in their whole program.”

The Cardinals have to pleased with how they measured up against the Blue Wave Friday. Greenwich set the tone from the start, claiming a 3-0 lead the first 6:38 of the first quarter en route to notching their biggest victory of the season to date.

WAESCHE SAVING THE DAY: GHS senior tri-captain William Waesche had perhaps the best game of his varsity career, registering 19 saves. Waesche came up especially big when the Blue Wave spent nearly half the third quarter in man-up situations due to Cardinals penalties.

“Sometimes when you get a hot goalie the team rallies around him,” Darien coach Jeff Brameier said.

SENSATIONAL SAVIO: The Cardinals senior captain and faceoff specialist Graham Savio won 14 of the 18 faceoffs he took, enabling Greenwich to maintain its lead every time the Blue Wave made a push.

“Graham does a great job of stopping runs,” Bulkley said. “After they scored to cut it to two goals a couple of times, he got the faceoff went right down the field and we got the goals back. That puts a ton of pressure on the other team.”

MOVING THE BALL: Receiving a hat trick from Luke Finneran and two goals from Kyle Foote, GHS effectively ran its settled offense. Much to the delight of Bulkley, the Cardinals made the extra pass on numerous occasions, working to get the best shot they could. Darien goalie Phil Huffard is one of the best netminders in the FCIAC, but he was put in tough situations throughout.

“They had some pin-point passing inside and got really good looks from in close,” Brameier said.

SEEDING SCENARIO: Darien entered Friday’s game with just one loss in the FCIAC – a 9-4 loss to New Canaan. Greenwich had two conference losses (to Ridgefield and New Canaan). With Greenwich’s win vs. Darien Friday, the Cardinals may get the No. 3 seed in the FCIAC Tournament. Some teams in the postseason hunt still have games up until Thursday, so the team’s won’t know their actual seeding until Thursday night. Each coach in the league emails their votes in for what they feel, the tournament bracket should look like.

“We were thinking we were on a roll after beating Ridgefield and if we won tonight we could have either gotten a No. 1 or 2 seed,” Brameier said. ” Maybe now we might get a four seed.”

Categories: FCIAC, General

Page 2 of 16123 Last »

Greenwich’s Oberbeck leads Yale’s resurgence

FCIAC Boys Lacrosse Pairings

FCIAC Girls Lacrosse Playoff Preview

St. Joseph-McMahon: Win on points

Ranked or no, Xavier no match for Fairfield Prep

Greenwich Academy suffers first loss of the season

Greenwich’s Oberbeck leads Yale

Greenwich makes a statement with win vs. Darien

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