Girl’s Varsity Volleyball Dominates Rival Fairfield Ludlowe

By Sydney Baker

On Monday, September 30^th, the Darien Girls’ Varsity Volleyball had a huge victory against Fairfield Ludlowe.  Ludlowe, one of the top teams in the FCIAC, beat Darien in the State tournament last year, which was a crushing blow to the BWVB organization, who are known for their dominance in both the FCIAC and State.

But this year, Darien seems to be ready for a comeback with yesterday’s shutout.  Winning all three sets, Darien won the first set 25-15, second set 25-18, and third set 25-8, as they managed to not drop a set the entire game.  Freshman, Caroline Martzolf had a huge stuff block during the third set, while seniors Celia Martzolf and Claire Naughton ran multiple slides. Junior Keli Keyes also had excellent ball control thoughout the game.

After the game, senior Celia Martzolf said, “We played a strong team, but we stuck together and we pushed through every set… We want to win FCIACs and States.” 

Capping off its record of 8-0, Girls’ Volleyball is projected to have a promising season.  The team’s next game is a home one and Wednesday against St. Joe’s.

Seniors Claire Naughton, Celia Martzolf, and Junior Izzy Taylor pose with fans after the game

BWFH Demolishes NC

By Erinn Ravosa

            This past Wednesday, September 24th, the Blue Wave Varsity Field Hockey team battled New Canaan in an away game. Intensity was high, as both teams are widely known for their strong skills and aggressiveness. Due to the hype regarding the game, the bleachers hosted many expectant people, who waited in anticipation for the game to start.
            New Canaan started with the ball and immediately made a drive for goal, but the Wave’s defense was able to hold them off. After a few minutes of playing time, it became apparent that both teams were neck and neck; the Wave would gain possession, and then the Rams would steal the ball back. It was constant back and forth game, which was actually quite fun for the Wave’s players. Senior Kyra Fitzpatrick said, “High intensity games make us hungrier for the win. We want to prove to ourselves and to Mo that we can beat anybody no matter what their records are. When we go onto the field, we leave everything on the field. If we win, that’s amazing. If we lose, we know we went down fighting.”
            Fifteen minutes into the first period, Olivia Hoya received the ball in a corner play and gave an Arial towards the goal; it went over the goalie’s head, making the score 1-0.  Soon after, junior Marissa Baker received a ball in the offensive circle and sent a ball into the corner of the cage. The Wave gained another point on the scoreboard. Within minutes after Baker scored, junior Kat Culliton sent a ball flying past the goalie. At this point in the game, the score was 3-0. Although the Wave had a large margin over New Canaan, the Rams did not stop fighting.
            Five minutes into the second period, New Canaan was able to cross the ball into the center of the circle, which resulted in a tip. The score then became 3-1. As a result of this goal, the Rams gained momentum and were soon able to put another ball into the net. However, the Wave answered back and scored another goal, making the score 4-2. As the back and forth game continued, Darien scored again, as did New Canaan. Although both teams were ready to keep firing shots, the time ran out; the final score of the game ended as 5-3, the Wave bringing home the win.
            Come support the Varsity Field Hockey team this Tuesday, September 30th, in their highly anticipated match against Greenwich. The game will be taking place at 4:30pm on the stadium turf. 

The Wave and Rams faced off in their season match on September 24th ©New Canaan News

Darien blows out Bassick in Homecoming Victory

By Britton Barthold

On Saturday, the undefeated Blue Wave took on the Bassick Lions during the annual homecoming game. The highly touted Wave defense was unstoppable throughout the day, not allowing Bassick to cross into Darien territory for the entire game. The defense held Bassick to only 99 total offensive yards, and had two interceptions along with a fumble recovery for a touchdown by senior defensive lineman Jack Griffiths. The team also had a total of eight sacks, with junior defensive end Mark Evanchick leading the way with nine total tackles and four sacks, while only playing for two quarters.

It was a quiet day on the offensive side of the game, as junior Quarterback Tim Graham only threw 19 passes for eight completions along with 2 touchdowns. Grahams junior campaign has been successful so far, completing 58% of his passes for 574 yards along with six touchdowns and only two interceptions. The team only had to run the ball 15 times, with four of those carries going to senior Peter Archey for a total of 50 yards and a touchdown. Archey has been dominate so far this season, averaging 7.4 yards a carry along with four touchdowns.

The Blue Wave faces fellow undefeated FCIAC foe St. Josephs Thursday at 3pm on the DHS Stadium. 

Senior Jack Griffiths celebrates with his teammates after his scoop-and-score.

Girls XC Takes on Rhode Island During Homecoming Weekend

This past weekend, the Blue Wave Girls Cross Country team traveled up to Warwick, Rhode Island to compete in the Ocean State Invitational.  This meet is unlike most of the other races that the girls partake in; teams from all over the Northeast travel to Rhode Island to have a fun time and compete in a meet that doesn’t count in their record. However, although it is not an official state meet, it is far more intense than any other regular meets this year. Pump-up music blasts, an announcer narrates the overall performances, and the atmosphere is highly competitive given the vast amount of exceptional athletes that come up to race.

The team has had a strong start to the season with an undefeated record of 11-0, beating the number-three-ranked Ridgefield this past Tuesday. The invitational was a great way for the strong team to PR in times and excel. Senior Anne Johnston owned the 5k course, scoring 13^th out of 101 people in the Varsity Championship with a time of 19:39.9. Other strong performances were led by seniors Amanda Percarpio and Kate Halabi, as well as junior Sarah Lehan.

Freshman Emilia Callery had an outstanding race, truly showing her great potential. Callery has already had an amazing first season, placing first in the freshman race at the Wilton Invitational. At the JV race she medaled 4^th with a time of 21:32. She ran the race in a very smart way, not letting people pull her out too fast and pacing herself perfectly. This was very impressive considering it was her first time running a 5k.

Darien scored 10^th place in the Varsity Championship and 5^th in the JV race. Senior Kate Halabi summed up the overall experience of Rhode Island, “The course is beautiful and it’s a really big, high-energy meet. Our freshman standout Emilia Callery placed 4^th in the JV race in a field of 272 individuals which was amazing.” Watch out for Blue Wave Girls Cross Country in their next meet at Todd’s Point in Greenwich this Tuesday, September 30^th. 

The team at Rhode Island sporting their homecoming superhero outfits.

Boy’s XC Victorious at Ridgefield

By Claire Borecki

On Tuesday, September 23rd the Darien Boy’s Cross Country team took on and triumphed over three other teams at Ridgefield High School. The 5k course was difficult and hilly, but Darien runners were happy to take the challenge.

With this race the Blue Wave XC has advanced to 11-0 on the season, winning over Ridgefield (15-50), Warde (15-50), and Norwalk (15-50). After losing many strong senior runners from the 2013 season, captains Brendan Triano, Armstrong Noonan, Alex Ostberg and Arthur Cassidy have lead Darien Boys Cross Country to it’s rank of 6th in the state of Connecticut.

“The course wasn't easy, but like with any hard race just finishing felt really great,” said standout sophomore James Johnson, who came in sixth overall. In fact, Darien secured the top seven spots in the race, with the infallible Alex Ostberg in first, (17:04) followed by Armstrong Noonan (17:10), Arthur Cassidy (18:34), Jack Consolini (18:35), Brendan Triano (18:42), James Johnson (18:42) and Jack Murray (18:49).

Come support Darien Boys Cross Country at their next meet on Tuesday, 9/30 at 4pm at Greenwich Point against Greenwich, Stamford, New Canaan, and Trinity Catholic.

Darien runners lead on the Ridgefield course

Darien JV Soccer Falls

By Sam Hickey

            Last Wednesday September 24, Darien High School’s junior varsity team took on Trumbull at home on the Middlesex upper field. The Blue Wave was riding a 3 game undefeated streak and came into the game pretty confident that they would get a result.

But all did not go according to plan when Trumbull charged down field on their first attack and drew a foul outside the box and then proceed to score a tremendous free kick that shocked Darien within the first minute of play. From then on Darien controlled the game, they kept possession of the ball and created chances but just could not convert. It would stay 1-0 until the 66th minute when Trumbull again scored off a nice set up from one of their wingers. Now the chase was on and Darien had to make up for lost time with less than 14 minutes to go until the final whistle. Their salvation would come in the 70th minute when freshman Edward Glassmeyer was able to score off of a rebound deflected off the goalie making the score 2 to 1. Darien looked like they might be able to equalize, but the Trumbull defense stayed firm and was able to hold them off till the end.

When asked why he thought his team was able to control the game, but not score sophomore Tommy Kreuch had this to say: “We moved the ball well in the midfield, but our game down the wing was not as good as it has been in the past which made us unable to convert chances when we had them”. 

The Darien bench shortly before kickoff