Fall Sports Preview

-By: Meg Murphy-

Here’s a little preview of the fall teams. Neirad will have a complete look at all the sports in our back-to-school issue, but who wants to think about school when we just got out! Have a great summer!

Football – Senior captains Stephen Arcamone, George Benitez, Bobby Nolan, Max Schreyer and Mike Wohlberg have high expectations for the 2009 football season. Their goals are “the same as every year, but most of all we want to beat New Canaan” Arcamone said.
Cheerleading- Senior captains Meg Murphy and Brittany Sipple are very excited to start working with their new coach, AJ Dixon. With a tough schedule and new rules, they plan on “strongly emphasizing, sharpness and smiles at competitions for an even more successful season” Sipple said.
Girls’ Soccer- After 15 seniors graduated last year, senior captains Alex Budd, Liz Calby, Rachel Kanigan, Kelly Mahoney and Cat Thomas plan to rebuild the team and “still play with the intensity that our team is known for” Mahoney said.
Boys’ Soccer- Seniors Sean Fahey, Alden Frelinghuysen, Peter Witschi, and Robbie Shindler will be leading the boys’ soccer team this year. Like many teams, the boys hope to make and contend in the FCIAC and State games.
Boys’ Cross Country- Seniors Jake McCauley, Alex Reynoso, Willem Sandberg, and Brandon Tripodi want to go 17-0 for the first time in years, as well as taking the FCIAC and State titles.
Girls’ Cross Country- Leading the pack this year are senior captains Kristen Abberly, Kelly Brophy Hannah Lyons and Kaitlin Maier. The girls hope to avoid any injuries and take the FCIAC and State title. Expected varsity members include Lyons, Brophy, junior Megan Keane, junior Amanda Dobler, Maier, and senior Olivia Smith.
Girls’ Swimming and Diving- Senior captains Sam Berizzi, Cali Ceglarski, Alex Leinroth, Katie Rohn, Katie Orem and Andrea Smelser are just six of the 13 seniors swimming and diving for DHS this year. The team will work hard with a new practice schedule in effort to achieve their goals.
Girls’ Field Hockey- Seniors Anna Heck, Ella Heck and Taylor Wells are excited to lead their team to success next year as captains. Their ultimate goal is to have an undefeated season, winning FCIACs and States for the third year in a row.
Girls’ Volleyball- The girls’ volleyball team will be lead by senior captains Colby Billhardt, Sarah Gorski, and Corinne Sommi. Coming back from a long summer of intense training, conditioning and a few camps, the team is expected to start the season strong. (captains pictured above)

Wave Tennis Nails Trifecta

-By: Jose Corte-Real-

Junior Charlie Taylor and senior Martin Hannon ended the season a perfect 22-0 doubles record. They helped take the DHS Boys Tennis team to a win in the CIAC Class M boys tennis championships at Yale on Thursday. (June 11) Hannon and Taylor (pictured) had a tough match beating the Tolland doubles team 7-5 7-5. “Getting this far in States and winning is a big accomplishment for Martin and I,” Taylor said. This is the third straight state title for the team. This game was a tough test but it was successfully put away in two sets. Congratulations to Charlie, Martin and the entire team!

Warriors Drowned by Blue Wave

-By: Allie Townsend-

The boys’ varsity lacrosse team wrapped up their season by acquiring the title of Class M State champions for the fourth consecutive year. The boys wiped out the Wilton Warriors with a score of 17-11 at Brien McMahon in Norwalk. Every player contributed to the success. Multiple players racked up the goals: everyone from freshman Case Matheis to senior John Bolton.
Senior manager, Lauren Miller didn’t miss a moment of the game. "Everyone played really well, I would put the spotlight on Nikki Dysenchuk because he was hurt all season and played in the last few games, and really was amazing." Lauren said. With a great senior class graduating, the underclassmen have big shoes to fill. However, senior Matt Gorski has a lot of confidence for the team in the years to come. Be sure to congratulate the ‘lax brahs’ if you see them walking down the halls at DHS in the final days of school.

Blue Wave Girls Lax Does It Again!

-By: Clemmy Little-

The Girls Blue Wave Varsity Lacrosse team has done it again capturing the state title on Saturday. The girls had a 16-8 win over archrival New Canaan. With Darien's first goal thrown in with just 24:25 on the clock, things were looking promising. In just the first five minutes, the girls shot four goals, keeping New Canaan out with zero goals. Defense and senior goal keeper Phoebe Maglathlin held strong and kept New Canaan out for a solid 15 minutes until NC scored its first goal to make it 4-1. At the end of the first half New Canaan unfortunately crept up on Darien and left the first half with a worrying score of 6-4 (Darien). Senior and captain Jenny Joy reiterated the worry the team was feeling, "At half time things definitely got a little tense, we all were thinking too much and just needed to play our game, which we did in the second half. We got rolling and our attackers were popping in goals. Sam Stevenson (#23) had a sick goal that hit the top right corner it was awesome!" Joy said. The girls kept scoring in the second half and came to beat New Canaan with a strong eight-goal difference. The Blue Wave Girls were ecstatic and couldn't stop smiling even walking to the bus! You can't blame them though with such a successful season under their belts: a 20-2 record; being undefeated in the State throughout their whole season; as well as being FCIAC & State Champions. Why wouldn't they be smiling? Be sure to catch the Blue Wave Girls Lacrosse remaining strong next season in 2010!

DHS Divers Named All Americans

-By Stacey Wilkins-

Sophomore Alexandra Ashcraft (pictured) and junior Alex Leinroth have been named All-American divers. They had to complete 11 dives. A tape of the girls' diving was sent to a judging committee who chose them for the distinction. This achievement is especially impressive since they were selected for the second year in a row. Fortunately, for the team these All Americans will be back next fall fired up to defeat their archrivals. "We really want to beat Wilton after beating them for the first time in eight years and we always want to beat Greenwich," Ashcraft said who is known for her killer double twist dive.

Softball RBI in State Final

The Wave was able to push this run across but couldn't generate enough offense to get a win. A great season for the girls softball team bringing home second place in the state class L.

Girls Softball Loses State Championship, Makes History

-By Kelsey Ott-

DHS Girls Softball ended its Cinderella season with a loss to Waterford on Saturday. (June 13) The team traveled to West Haven High School, but unfortunately lost to the fifth-seeded Waterford Lancers 4-1. The top seeded Blue Wave scored its only run in the fifth inning after sophomore Nicole Buch hit in junior Lauren Russell, who was the courtesy runner for senior pitcher co-captain Christina DeMaio, who got on base from a walk. After a 3-1 win over Guilford at Plainville High School last Wednesday (June 10), the softball team made it to the state finals for the first time in DHS history. Even though the day didn’t end in a win, the team has some consolation in bringing home the CT Class L Runners-Up plaque to add to DHS’s previously softball-free trophy case. Blue Wave softball had a great run, going 17-3 in the regular season (16-2 in the FCIAC) and making it to the semi-finals of the FCIAC playoffs. Coach Nick DeMaio was named FCIAC Coach of the Year, senior captains Reilly Horan (pictured above right) and Christina DeMaio were named All-FCIAC First Team, senior Mallory Kahn and sophomore Nicole Buch were named All-FCIAC Second Team, and Horan was also All-State. (senior Jorden Cappiello pictured with the sweet shades above left)

A Great Season and College Ahead

-By Christian Panier-

This past year's varsity baseball season has been marked with many great achievements and an outstanding performance from one of its most recognizable seniors, Devin Burke. (pictured) This star pitcher and new head Coach Mr. Michael Scott have led this year's squad to an 18-8 record, outscoring opponents 159 to 54. Burke also led the team to both FCIAC and state playoffs. The boys ended their season with a semifinal defeat to the Branford Hornets on Wednesday. (June 10) It was still a dream run for Burke: "Devin is a hard worker and shows his commitment to the team by supporting us and pushing us to play our best," junior teammate Brandon Tripodi said. In Darien's last state playoff win, Devin finished with a one-hit shutout with 14 strikeouts and a walk. Devin will attend Duke University next fall and continue to play the game that has brought him so much attention thanks to his commitment and skill. His presence on the field will be greatly missed.

Boys Lax Nails Stinky Match-up

-By: Stacey Wilkins-

Darien Boys Lacrosse beat East Lyme 16-4 to advance to the finals this weekend. The Number 3 seed Darien faced Number 2 seed East Lyme in Guilford in the state M Division semifinal on Thursday. (June 11) “It was a blowout. Everyone on the team got in,” sophomore laxer Ben Preston said. Senior Tyler Foley led the scoring with five goals. (Pictured) Some laxers noted not only the play but the stinky setting. “The school smelled gross,” Preston said. The boys move on to the championship to play Wilton at Brien McMahon in Norwalk at 1pm on Saturday. "Wilton's a good team and it's hard to beat anyone three times in a season. I'm sure it will be a good game," senior laxer Chas Brickman said.

Girls Lax Heads to Championship

-By JP Walsh-

With one championship under their belt, DHS Girls Lacrosse is ready for another victory, and to none other than archrival New Canaan who is still waiting with a bitter taste in their mouth from the final game of FCIACS last June. Last year Darien won by one goal in the final minutes of the game against the Rams. Darien's coach Lisa Lindley claims that her team played worse than she thought capable in that match. Meanwhile, the girls moved to the next round after beating Wilton yesterday (June 10) to advance to the Division I Championships. "The girls game was awesome. The defense played really well. Amy Marchesi looked hot out there," senior boys varsity laxer & sideline onlooker Matt Gorski said. Girls varsity senior laxer Corey Vernon agreed: "We controlled the game in the first half, but it was still close. In the second half, we picked it up even more and dominated them," Vernon said. (pictured above) Darien hopes to show how badly they could have beaten New Canaan the first time, and New Canaan hopes to show the opposite. At 7 p.m. on Saturday at Trumbull High School stadium, the two teams will battle it out to see who deserves the Division 1 title. Hopefully the Blue Wave will once again drown the Rams and continue to reign as state champions.

Girls Golf Lands 14th Spot

-By: Lizzie Kirst-

Girl’s golf placed 14th in States at Orange Hill Country Club in Orange, Connecticut. They face d 14 teams on Tuesday. (June 9) Representing Darien were seniors Meg Ardery and Clare Baldwin (both pictured), juniors Stephanie Ko, Nell Thalhamer and sophomore Kendall Kyritz. Rain and lightening delayed the match until noon after the girls showed up at around eight in the morning. The match was played in groups of three on the 18-hole course. The Darien girls were paired with players from Avon and Canton.

Girls Tennis Wraps Up Season

-By Meg McIntire-

DHS Girls Varsity Tennis team beat Farmington at Hebron 5-2 June 1, however, number 1 and 2 singles senior Annie Wilson and junior Alex Budd lost. They stayed in the game beating Hebron 7-0 to advance to the quarterfinals. The girls played Fairfield Warde in Fairfield and won, advancing to play Wilton, but lost 4-3. Despite the loss, the team played hard this season. Sophomore Amanda Brodsky said, “I think I had a really good season…I lost two matches. I think (the team) also had a great season…they’ve been awesome. The new players have been really great, too. The new coach (Mr. Davin Gebauer) really helped us to have a successful season while having a lot of fun." Looking back now that the season’s over, Brodsky gave a rundown of the games. “ For States this year, we won against Farmington at Hebron CT, 5-2. Directly after that we played Hebron and won 6-1. Then we moved to the quarterfinals at Warde and won 5-2, which was an improvement for us. Semi-finals were at wilton where we lost 4-3.”
Although the season’s over, 1D (Courtney Whiting and Lindsay Battey) and 2D (Amanda Brodsky and Kyle McCoy) played in the State opens Saturday. McCoy and Brodsky lost in the opening round to Cheshire. Whiting and Battey advanced to the third round on Monday where they lost to Greenwich. (pictured above sophomore Lonneke Eenkema van Dijk. Pictured below junior Alex Budd)

Happy Birthday Ultimate Lax Bro

-By JP Walsh, DHS Laxbrah-

June 9th, 1969: the day lax was born. Maybe it was more like 1989, but who has time to think about their birthday while club laxing 24/7? Either way, one year on June 9th, at some time around 4:20 p.m., Brantford Winstonworth was brought into the world. Lax wand in hand, he asked, "Bros...anybody care to lax?" Over the next 20, or 40 years, Brantford continued to hone his lax skills, scoring two goals in practice, and of course increasing his flotrons until they were off the charts. Along with a new pair of mid-calves and a few lax pinnies, Brantford wants a new pair of sugar brown Oakley Fives for laxing in his free time. His turf dogs are beginning to lose their original fresh glow, which Brantford believes significantly decreases his flow. To counter such drastic circumstances, Brantford will be getting a new pair, Warrior Burn Turf Mid's, 2.0. Competition now doesn't stand a chance, as if they did before. One thing is for sure; we have been graced with another year of Brantford's presence, and can only hope to continue to bro-out with him in years to come.

Track Girl’s Place Fourth in the State

-By Laura Durham-


Girl’s track competed well at CIAC State Opens on Monday at the Veterans’ Stadium in New Britain. In four events, Darien girls placed in the top ten. Junior Christy Gasparino placed fifth in the Triple Jump, and second in the high jump. With her high placings, she will be competing at New Englands in Burlington, Vermont on Saturdat. Senior Caroline McDonough (pictured above) also qualified for New Englands with her first place finish in the 3200 Meter Run. The Darien 4x800 Meter Relay Team senior Brooke Pfister, sophomores Megan Keane, and Amanda Dobler placed ninth out of 25 teams. Overall the DHS Track Girls earned a total of 31 points, which placed them fourth in the state. Good luck to Christy and Caroline this weekend!

DHS Runner Breaks Record

-By Jake McCauley-

The Blue Wave Sports Blog would like to congratulate senior Artem Skobrev (pictured right) on breaking the school record in the 1600 meter run yesterday at the State Opens. Artem ran a 4:18.54, breaking his time and school from last year of 4:20. He placed 5th in the event, scoring the only points for the Wave at the meet. It certainly was a great way to start finish up his career here at DHS before moving onto UCONN. Artem will be competing at the New England Championship meet this weekend.

Girls LAX Beats Avon on Grass

-By Clemmy Little-

A two-hour bus ride and funky grass was not enough to stop DHS Girls Varsity Lacrosse from beating Avon 22-10 in the quarterfinals today (June 8). It was a slow start after the long bus ride. Then they were greeted with a field of grass, not the turf the Darien team has become accustomed.
"Yeah, the grass was kind of a downer we had to slowly get use to it with ground balls but I thought we managed really well!" senior Chloe Drimal said.
With a leading score of more than five at the end of the first half, the girls looked set to move onto the next stage against the Wilton Warriors this week. This game promises to be a tight race. Last time the teams faced each other Darien won in overtime with just one lead goal.
Be sure to catch Darien in the semi's at Trumbull High School against the Wilton Warriors on Wednesday. (senior Courtney Bennett pictured)

Boys Tennis Perfect in Two Rounds of States

-By Daniel Campbell-

The boy’s singles tennis team continued its matches in Hamden, and all four boys won their matches in the second rounds. The matches played on Thursday were continued from Wednesday. Senior captain Dane Gebauer, (pictured right) the number one seed in the tournament, beat Alex Anisimov of Waterford 6-1, 6-2 to advance to the third round. Another senior captain, third seed Chris Martin, beat his opponent Bennett Krantz of Foran 6-0, 6-0 to advance. Junior Britt Gordon and senior James Critelli were the other two team members to win, winning 6-1, 6-1 and 6-0, 6-2 respectively. Four of the boys on the team played. The boys’ doubles team plays today, and the singles tournament, which still has four more rounds to go, continues on Saturday.

Softball: Base Hit by Kahn Wins it in the 8th

-By: Jorden Capiello-

The Blue Wave girls’ softball team continued the greatest run Darien has seen in years by beating Branford 2-1. Last Wednesday, the team faced a tough loss to Westhill in the semi-finals of the FCIAC tournament, and was eliminated. This Tuesday, June 2nd, the girls eliminated Branford in the second round of Sates. Going into the State Tournament, Darien was tied for first in Class L with Naugatuck, and therefore had a bye on Monday. Throughout the game, Branford put pressure on Darien offensively, scoring one run in the beginning half. In the same inning, Darien got up to the plate and successfully loaded the bases. With one out, Branford’s pitcher hit batter senior Jorden Capiello with the pitch, allowing Darien’s tying run to score. Senior pitcher, Christina DeMaio, held strong for the Blue Wave, surrendering only five hits while striking out five. At the end of seven innings, Darien and Branford were tied 1-1, and headed onto the field in extra innings. In the top of the 8th, Darien’s defense got three outs without letting any runs in. In the bottom of the 8th, senior Mallory Kahn (pictured right) scored sophomore Nicole Buch on an RBI single to win the game. “Our win against Branford was huge!” DeMaio said. “We are ready to take this all the way to the end and win the State Championship, something Darien softball has never done before.” Darien will host Rockville on Friday June 5th at 4pm for the quarterfinals. DHS will be closing the roads around the softball field for the game, and will charge admission. (coach DeMaio pictured left)

Girls Lax Downs the NC Rams

-By Claire Dickson-

The Darien Girl's Lacrosse had a very tense victory in the FCIAC finals against New Canaan on Tuesday. (June 2) As the huge crowd arrived, they saw the Rams score the first goal, leaving Darien behind. But the Blue Wave girls were not going to give up without a fight. They answered the Ram's one goal with three of their own to bring the score up to 3-1 in the middle of the first half. New Canaan came back with fire scoring three goals in a row, putting themselves on top. This is how the game remained, one team scored, the other would answer, for the rest of the time. The lead never exceeded two goals and Darien coach Lisa Lindley was beginning to see that this was an entirely different New Canaan lacrosse team than they had played before. As the numbers on the scoreboard increased, so did the tension. After every goal scored, screams could be heard miles away from the fans, and the players on the sideline. With three minutes left, the teams were still tied 9-9. Finally, junior Anne Fucigna showed off her incredible capability to play well under pressure and scored the winning goal with 2:18 to go. The Darien girl's were ecstatic at the end of the game, running onto the field to congratulate each other, and pouring the water cooler all over their coach. They lined up for their metals and were pleasantly surprised when senior Amy Marchesi was presented with the All-Eastern award, and Fucigna was awarded MVP for the game. The Darien - New Canaan rivalry will still continue to thrive during the state tournament. Their first game is at 5:00 at Darien on Thursday, June 4 and they hope to see a good turnout of students to support their ever growing dynasty. (picture above: the team reacts to junior Anne Fucigna being named MVP)

Results and Upcoming Events

-By Jake McCauley-

YESTERDAYS RESULTS

• Baseball defeated Wilton 1-0. They will play on Saturday vs. Avon at Municipal Stadium in Waterbury at 4:00PM.
• Softball Defeated Branford 2-1 in 8 innings. They will play Rockville at DHS on Friday at 4:00PM. There will be a CIAC Admission charge for this game - 5$ students and 7$ adults.
• Girl's Tennis defeated Warde 5-2 and will play Wilton today at 3:00PM.
• Girl's Lacrosse won the FCIAC Championship defeating New Canaan!
• Boys Volleyball defeated St. Joes. They will play at Lewis Mills on Friday at 5PM.

TODAY - June 3rd

• Boy's Tennis is at Yale in the CIAC First Round
• Girl's Tennis is at Wilton today in the CIAC Semifinals
  

Boys Track Places 3rd at States

-By: Jay Alter-

The Darien Boys track team went up to New Britain to compete for the number one spot in the state on Monday. (June 1) The boys placed 3rd, which was higher then expected at this level. Senior captain Kevin Knapp battled through some injuries this past season but showed he was one of the fastest taking second in the 100 meter dash with a time of 11.7 seconds, senior Matt Ligouri (pictured) also ran the dash and placed 5th with a time of 11.9 seconds. UCONN-bound Artem Skobrev took second in the 1600 meter (1 mile) run and 1st in the 800 meter dash with a time of 1:59.2. (No surprise for the standout distance senior captain!) The 4 by 100 meter relay came very close to taking the school record, only .3 seconds off the time. Overall the team did well and will hope to continue their run in State-opens.

Girls Track Places 3rd in States

-By: Jay Alter-

The Darien Girls track team went up to New Britain on June 1 to try and prove that they were the fastest and strongest team in the state of Connecticut. The girl’s team has come off a win at FCIACs and States for indoor track and determined to succeed this outdoor season. In the 4 by 100 meter relay seniors Grace Doering, Meg Gilbert, Caroline Zuckerman and junior Meredith Jordan came in 2nd place. The high jump was won by senior Grace Doering. Another strong event for the team was the pole vault where sophomore Elizabeth Crafford, senior Kristen Long and sophomore Charlotte Phillips placed 5th-3rd respectivly in that order. Good Luck to the girls in the State-Open competition.

Girls Tennis Faces Fairfield

DHS Girls Varsity Tennis team beat Farmington at Hebron 5-2 today. (June 1) However, number 1 and 2 singles senior Annie Wilson and junior Alex Budd lost. They stayed in the game beating Hebron 7-0 to advance to the quarterfinals tomorrow. (June 2) The girls will play Fairfield Warde in Fairfield.

Baseball Puts a Beating on Platt Tech

-By: Jack Bushell-


The Darien baseball team beat Platt Tech in the first round of the State tournament on the DHS turf today. Darien won easily 12-1. With senior Teddy Malley (pictured) pitching a no-hitter through four innings, the Wave was off to a good start. After being up by three runs after three innings of play a two- run homer hit by senior star Devin Burke swung the game in Darien’s favor. The Wave didn’t look back from there putting up 12 runs against the sad defense of Platt Tech. The only run that Tech got was in the top of the last inning where a couple of hits manufactured a run. Nonetheless the Wave come out on top in the first round after being beat in the FCIAC semifinal on Saturday. Their next game will be on Tuesday on the turf against Wilton at 3:30pm. You could also catch the first round of the State softball tourney at home at the same time.

Sidelined Laxer Keeps Spirits Up

-By: Meghan McIntire-

Sophomore laxer Ben Preston (pictured) is on the DL for at least another week. Ben is out with a torn elbow muscle. That means he will be on the bench cheering the boys on against Ridgefield in the FCIAC final at Brien McMahon at 7:30pm tomorrow. (June 2) Despite this setback, Preston is keeping his spirits up. “It’s a huge privilege to be playing in Darien. It’s great because it gives me options for the future and different choices for college.” The most difficult thing for this sophomore has been, “keeping up with the older kids. I had to learn to handle myself maturely like they do.” Preston has distinguished himself getting serious playing time at the varsity level – an impressive accomplishment for a underclassmen playing on one of the best lacrosse teams on the East Coast. Preston thinks very highly of the squad this year despite some early losses against out-of-league teams. “It’s a really good team. The upperclassmen are great and I don’t think the record really speaks fairly.” The goals he has for the rest of the school year are “Winning FCIAC and then States.” The advice Ben gave for those who want to try out for the lacrosse team next year: “Definitely just go 100% and don’t be intimidated by the older kids. Just try your hardest.”