On Tuesday, May 27th, the Darien Boys Lacrosse
team faced off against rival New Canaan in the FCIAC semifinals. The Blue Wave
started off hot, with production coming mainly from a first quarter hat-trick
for senior attacker Peter Lindley, and had a 6-4 lead going into the second
quarter. As the game went on, Darien’s offense began to stall, scoring a total
of two goals in the second and third quarter. While Darien’s offense was
slowing down, New Canaan’s was picking up the pace. The Rams outscored Darien
7-2 through the second and third quarters and had a solid 11-8 lead going into
the final quarter.
The fourth quarter is when the game got really interesting.
Trailing by three goals with 9 minutes remaining, Lindley made his defender look
foolish with a nice swim move and he then finished with an unreal, over-the-shoulder,
backwards goal that left the crowd in complete awe. That goal seemed to spark
the Darien offense, and with 2 minutes remaining sophomore Colin Minicus scored
to cut the New Canaan lead to one. The Darien defense stepped up huge in the
final two minutes, forcing multiple turnover which led to Darien having the ball with 1
minute left. Coming out of the timeout, the offense worked the ball around
until sophomore Jack Kniffin passed to senior Harry Gillespie, also known as “Math
Games” and “Lightning”, who fired a goal top left to tie the game at 11 and, following
a couple big stands by the Darien defense and senior goalie Phil Huffard, send
the game into overtime.
Junior Andrew Pugliese won the biggest faceoff of the
game to get Darien the ball in overtime, where junior Ian Burgoyne was able to
rip one into the back of the net while simultaneously ripping out the hearts of
the New Canaan players and fans, ultimately sending the Blue Wave to the FCIAC
Championship. After the game, Gillespie said, “We knew it was going to be a
battle going in; we didn’t play our best game by any means, but when we had to
step up, we did, and that’s what mattered in the end.”
Come support the boys in the FCIAC Championship as they take
on Greenwich at 7 PM at Brien McMahon on Friday (5/30).
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| A New Canaan player laments another Rams loss at the hands of the Blue Wave. |
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