NORWALK, Conn. - Roy Colsey was more than a little troubled after his Ridgefield Tigers came from behind to beat the New Canaan Rams 11-10 in overtime, in the FCIAC boys lacrosse semifinals on Saturday.
Yes, his team had staged a dramatic rally, scoring three goals in the final 2:52 to tie the game and force overtime where a goal by Brendan Walsh gave the Tigers the victory at Brien McMahon High School in Norwalk.
And yes, Colsey’s team remained undefeated in Connecticut and was headed to the FCIAC final for a rematch with the Darien Blue Wave.
But while Colsey was happy to have seen his team respond to a major challenge, there were some trepidations heading into the championship game.
“I was proud of them, but I’m also concerned,” Colsey said. “This has become a habit of not playing four quarters. When you get into the playoffs, if you don’t play four quarters, you’ll get beat. Playing on Tuesday is a luxury. New Canaan deserved to win this game. They played great.
“It was a well-played game, but we got really lucky and that’s the bottom line. We had a couple of kids who made a really heroic effort late in the game.”
On the other side of the field, New Canaan head coach Alex Whitten was somber, but realized that his Rams had turned a corner with a strong playoff performance against a heavily-favored team.
“I couldn’t be more proud of them because they played really hard the whole game and that’s what we asked them to do,” Whitten said. “We were up, we were down, we came back and went up again, but in then end we just didn’t get it done. I think a lot of that had to do with inexperience.
“It’s frustrating, but at the same time, it was a big learning step for our guys.”
While the Rams returned home to lick their wounds and prepare for the state Class M tournament, the Tigers shifted gears and were refocusing their attention on the FCIAC championship game.
No. 1 Ridgefield (17-1) will face the No. 2 Darien Blue Wave (14-4) in the league final at 7:30 p.m., Tuesday, June 2, at Brien McMahon HS in Norwalk.
Darien defeated No. 3 Wilton (13-5), 11-3, in Saturday’s other semifinal game, which featured the return of Blue Wave senior attack Nikki Dysenchuk, who had missed the entire regular season after undergoing ACL surgery in December.
The Wave had been playing well despite the absence of one of their captains, but Dysenchuk’s return has made the team even stronger for the postseason, according to Head Coach Jeff Brameier.
“We’ve just been playing great lacrosse and things got on a good roll for us,” Brameier said. “We were playing great defense, but having Nikki back gives us a little different flair on the offensive side and allows us to do things we weren’t able to do before.
“He makes everybody around him better, that’s the kind of player he is. When you have a kid like that out all year, it’s like taking away (Ridgefield’s) Matt White or (Wilton’s) Peter McMahon. You’re still good, but you’re never quite as good without him. We have (Tyler) Foley and (Jon) Bolton and (Chas) Brickman, and they’ve been weathering the storm without him, but there’s no doubt he would have been a difference-maker in at least two of our losses.”
Darien, which has won 11 of 12 games, was all over the Warriors from the outset of the semifinal game, as Brickman, Foley and Ryan Mulligan scored the first three goals.
After Mike Francia scored Wilton’s first goal, Foley and Matt Wheelock netted two more tallies to put the Wave ahead, 5-1, at halftime. Darien then outscored the Warriors 4-1 in the third quarter and went on to win by eight.
Dysenchuk was a factor in his first game back, scoring once and dishing out three assists. Foley (3 goals, 1 assist), Brickman (2 goals, 2 assists), Case Matheis (2 goals), Wheelock (2 goals) and Bolton (2 assists) also had multiple points, while Mulligan scored once and George Benitez had an assist.
For Wilton, Francia scored twice, Michael Serpa had a goal, McMahon and Kyle Sullivan had assists, and goalie James Fuller made 14 saves.
While Darien’s offense was in synch, Brameier said the defense played a solid game despite the fact that captain Corey Caputo was sidelined with a hamstring injury.
“It’s a great group of guys and we’re still playing without our top pole in Corey, who’s nursing a hamstring,” Brameier said. “Mulligan did a great job of handling McMahon and Gorski continues to be dominat on everything — ground balls, clearing and interceptions. We’re getting a lot out of guys like Gasparino and Parnon and Benitez, so we have some depth there.
“The real key is the short stick middie-D’s. Wheelock and (Andrew) Bay are just phenomenal. They do so many little things and nobody beats them. They bring a solid confidence to the defense. They’re good athletes and steady players.”
The second FCIAC semifinal was much more dramatic, as New Canaan and Ridgefield seesawed through four quarters of lacrosse.
After Ridgefield’s Colin Scott scored the opening goal, the Rams reeled off four straight from Sam Stanton, Todd Bratches, Joe Costigan and co-captain Brian Faughnan to take a 4-1 lead.
The Tigers’ Mike Galione scored with 10.9 seconds remaining in the first and Ridgefield outscored New Canaan 3-1 in the second quarter to tie the game at 5-5 heading into the halftime break.
Ridgefield appeared to have taken over in the second half, as they extended their run to 6-1 on goals by Ian Vazquez and Matt White in the third quarter to make it a two-goal game.
Facing a 7-5 hole, the Rams responded. Jack Kraus scored with 2:45 remaining in the third, and Faughnan notched the equalizer with 13.4 on the clock, making it 7-7.
New Canaan carried that momentum into the fourth frame as Costigan scored with an assist from co-captain Oliver Dennis at 2:20.
Faughnan scored again with Dennis assisting at 5:30, and when Cody Newton scored off a pass from Henry Eschricht at 6:57, New Canaan had a 10-7 lead and appeared to be headed to the FCIAC final.
Ridgefield, however, still had some life and broke its slide when White fed Aaron Mathias from behind the net, and Mathias scored to make it 10-8 with 2:52 remaining.
“We just said ‘Do it for the guy next to you,’ We didn’t lose our cool, we knew that we were going to pull together and gut it out,” senior tri-captain Matt Baker said. “It was frustrating but with that, you’ve really just got to keep your head in the game and be determined to get the goals and get back into it”
The Rams won the ensuing faceoff and ate some clock before turning the ball over with 1:40 on the clock. Ridgefield then threw a pass out of bounds at the other, but New Canaan returned the favor with a turnover with 1:17 left.
White made that miscue hurt, as he set up Vazquez for another score to make it a 10-9 game with 1:07 remaining.
White won the ensuing faceoff, but missed a tying shot as New Canaan goalie Jimmy Joe Granito scooped up the loose ball with 32 seconds to play. Granito quickly threw the ball down the field into the Ridgefield defensive zone, where Tigers’ goalie Jake Hyatt picked it up and tossed it up to the midfield.
Brendan Walsh then scored the tying goal on a low shot from the left side with 11.5 seconds remaining.
Each team had chances during a four-minute overtime, but walsh netted the game winner when he caught a pass, got an open look and fired a rocket past Granito for the goal with 20.6 seconds on the clock.
“I just saw an open lane and took it,” Walsh said. “I saw that I had a great shot at it and just got it done. Our team’s really good under pressure and we just seem to come up big in times like these.”
“Brendan Walsh — man oh man I don’t know what’s inside his body besides heart,” Colsey said. “There’s got to be some lungs because the kid can run all day, but he’s got so much heart in his body.”
Walsh had a hat trick and one assist for the Tigers, while White scored once and had four assists. Scott and tri-captain Matt Baker each had two goals and one assist. Hyatt made 15 saves for the defense.
For New Canaan, Faughan and Costigan had hat tricks, while dennis and Faughnan had two assists each. Eschricht had three assists, and goalie Granito had 16 saves.
“This game will come back and help us if we can take positives from it,” Whitten said of the Rams. “Environments like this are what you want to be involved in as a lacrosse player. If we can take positives from this, then it comes out as a victory for us. This was a big step ahead for our program and it’s a good day for New Canaan lacrosse.”
As for the Tigers, they’re hoping that championship day will be a good day for Ridgefield lacrosse. And while they defeated Darien, 8-7, during the regular season, the Tigers are well aware that a title game with a perennial power, is a different animal.
“There’s a comfort going in with a win over them, but we’ve still got to play a lot harder than we did today if we want to win again,” Baker said. “Our job when we started the season was an FCIAC championship and a State championship and we’re not going to be stopped. We’re going to get those championships.”
Dave Stewart, the Sports Editor of the New Canaan (Conn.) Advertiser, is a MaxPreps.com writer and photographer. He may be reached at 203-966-9541 or at sports@ncadvertiser.com.
