NEW CANAAN, Conn. - Home has always been where the heart is for the New Canaan High School girls lacrosse team. Dunning Field has also been where the Rams have staged a couple of pretty dramatic playoff victories during the past two seasons.
For the second consecutive year, New Canaan knocked off a perennial conference power and earned a trip to the FCIAC championship game when it defeated the Wilton Warriors, 16-13, Thursday night at NCHS.
The Rams used a six-goal run in the first half to build the initial lead and were never headed en route to the victory.
Jenny Simpson, New Canaan
Photo by Dave Stewart
New Canaan (15-3), the FCIAC’s third seed, will take on No. 1 Darien (14-2) in the championship game at 5:15 p.m. Tuesday, June 2, at Brien McMahon High School in Norwalk.
Darien pounded fourth-seeded Greenwich, 19-5, in Thursday’s early semifinal.
New Canaan has been then host school for the league semifinals for several years, but the Rams had struggled in the playoffs until last spring, when they upset top-seeded Darien. The Rams and Wilton then clashed in a classic final, with the Warriors coming out on top, 15-14.
Winning playoff games at Dunning Field has become a source of pride for the Rams.
“We beat Darien on this turf last year and now we beat Wilton here this year,” senior tri-captain Jenny Simpson said. “FCIAC finals is always something we’ve wanted to win and last year was such a heartbreaker. We really wanted to get back there and show the FCIAC and the rest of the state what we can do.”
New Canaan carries an 8-game winning streak into the FCIAC title tilt, and has not lost since it was beaten by Wilton, 15-13, back on May 1.
Head coach Kristin Wood, a past FCIAC and State champion at Wilton High School, said her team has been playing its best lacrosse in recent weeks. The Rams topped Brien McMahon, 18-9, in Tuesday’s playdown round to earn the match-up with Wilton.
“We have such a deep attack,” Wood said. “Every single person is a threat and I think that’s tough for other teams to defend. It seems like everybody was in the right spots at the right time. We’re starting to mesh well together at the right time.
“The girls came out and played their game and they really controlled the ball. That was our goal and our girls did it. They came out hard and they never let down.”
For Wilton (14-2), the early exit was an odd feeling, as the Warriors have reached the final in five of the past seven years. Wilton was already starting to refocus its frustration on the states, which will begin next week with the Warriors a likely No. 2 seed in Division I.
“We tried to play catch-up which is what we didn’t need to do,” said Ciara Thurlow, who shares the head coaching duties with Cindy Wiseman. “We need to play Wilton’s game. But we got ourselves in a hole and Wilton is not used to getting themselves out of a hole.
“If we didn’t have states they’d be more devastated right now. We’re not ending this way. We’re looking to come back and go to the finals and win the finals this year.”
New Canaan’s offense received big games from several people, including Simpson, who racked up seven goals and an assist, and consistently beat the Wilton goalies with low shots.
Senior tri-captain Meg Boland scored four goals, junior Anjalie Christie had three goals and two assists, senior tri-captain Veronica Lizzio had three goals and one assist, and junior Kacey Pippitt had one assist.
As good as the offense was, however, the keys to the game were draw controls and defense.
New Canaan had a huge performance on draws, led by Pippitt, Lizzio and Simpson.
“We weren’t winning the draw,” Wiseman said of the Warriors. “They were scrambling and they were coming up with the ground balls and the loose balls. And they were really composed. They played calmly and we didn’t play good calm lacrosse.”
New Canaan’s junior goalie Charlotte Spitzfaden came up big at key junctures of the game, collecting 14 saves. She also had six clears, one ground ball and caused one turnover.
“Charlotte played another phenomenal game,” Wood said. “She came up with a few huge stops and throughout the whole game, her clears were on. She’s really starting to come into her own and seeing that this is her first season, she’s done a wonderful job.”
The defense in front of Spitzfaden was exceptional, with juniors Betsy Hart and Shelby Barada face-guarding Wilton senior tri-captains Kacie Johnson and Brooke Flanagan, respectively. Johnson was held to three goals, while Flanagan had just two assists.
Wilton senior Alexi Farmakis led the Warrior offense with three goals and two assists, while seniors Chelsea Helms and Tessa Howard, and junior Amy Drummond had two goals each. Junior Rachel Lowrie also scored.
At the other end of the field, Wilton had to deal with the fact that both of its goalies were at less than 100 percent. Starter Maddie Kratz, a sophomore, left the game due to an illness after 10 minutes.
The Rams had a 4-1 lead at the time and quickly scored two more goals against junior netminder Lindsay Wheeler (2 saves), who was recovering from an illness.
Farmakis opened the scoring 54 seconds after the opening draw, but that would be the Warriors’ only lead of the game.
Boland tied the score at 3:31 when she circled around the left post, turned and fired high past Kratz.
Five minutes later, Christie had a free position for New Canaan, but her shot hit off the left post. Simpson, however, scooped up the rebound and scored on the put-back for a 2-1 lead.
At 8:44, Lizzio took the ball up the gut of the defense and scored, and Boland then netted the fourth goal with an assist from Simpson at 8:42.
Wheeler replaced Kratz after that goal, but the Rams kept rolling.
Christie tossed a pass Simpson for the fifth goal at 11:28, and Boland capped the six-goal run at 12:17 to make it 6-1.
Wilton snapped a 13:24 scoring drought when Johnson nailed in a shot in traffic with 10:13 to play in the half.
The teams traded goals for the next seven minutes and when Farmakis scored her second goal of the game with 4:15 remaining in the half, the Warriors gad crept back to within two goals at 8-6.
The Rams responded with back-to-back goals from Christie and Simpson to close out the half ahead, 10-6, and Simpson netted the opening goal of the second half for an 11-6 advantage.
Wilton made some noise midway through the half, as Farmakis, Helms and Drummond all scored during a 3-1 run to make it a 12-9 game, but the Rams scored four unanswered to build up a seven-goal lead.
Simpson opened that run with two tallies, and Lizzio and Christie added the next two for a 16-9 lead with 3:55 remaining.
Even at that point, the Rams didn’t feel they could rest easy, and Wood was quick to answer when she was asked if she ever felt comfortable during the game.
“No,” Wood laughed. “It’s not over till it’s over and Wilton is one of those teams that can go on a six-goal run in three minutes. You can’t stop playing at any point, especially against such a strong team as Wilton.”
“They’ve definitely done that to us before,” Simpson said. “We were up in the regular season and they came back to win it, so that was something we were aware of. We know they can come back, but we couldn’t let that happen again. So we kept playing hard and we came out with the win.”
Wilton closed the game with four consecutive goals — one each from Rachel Lowrie and Helms, and two from Tessa Howard — but it was too little, too late, as New Canaan held on for the 16-13 win.
“We definitely came into the game fired and we were ready for them,” Simpson said. “We lost to them in the FCIAC final last year and then in the regular season this year, so what better time to get them back and beat them?”
As for facing the state’s top-ranked team, Darien, in Tuesday’s final, Wood wasn’t ready to turn the page just yet.
We’ll come out hard and we’ll be ready to play them just like we were last year,” the coach said. “But I’m too excited about the Wilton win, I can’t even think about that game right now.”
More Girls Lacrosse: Darien cuts Cards by 14 goals
The Darien Blue Wave made a huge statement in its semifinal game, pounding the Greenwich Cardinals, 19-5.
The Wave received several big performances, as junior Cali Ceglarski scored five goals, senior Courtney Bennett had four goals and three assists, senior Sam Stevenson had four goals and one assist, and senior Amy Marchesi had three goals and three assists.
Junior Liz Calby added two goals and two assists, senior Kat Nestor scored once, and senior goalie Phoebe Maglathlin made five saves.
For Greenwich (13-5), senior Hana Bowers and junior Sarah Kramer each scored twice, while senior Caroline Morgan scored once. Goalie Kaitlyn Bedford collected nine saves.
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
