FCIAC update

By Jay Alter:


As the FCIAC tournaments are finishing up for the fall sports teams this season, here is how the teams are doing.

Girls Soccer - Lost in the semi-finals to Westhill in penalty kicks, start state tournament Tuesday, November 9th at 2pm (home)
Girls and Boys Cross Country - Finished in 2nd place in the FCIAC and STATE run.
Girls Swimming - 4th place in the FCIAC meet.
Girls Diving - 2nd in FCIAC
Girls Volleyball - Won the FCIAC tournament as they captured their 10th straight FCIAC title.
Girls Field Hockey - Won the FCIAC title for the fourth consecutive year.
Boys Soccer - Did not make FCIAC tournament.
Football - 8-0 and will play Staples in the FCIAC championship if they beat Norwalk (3-5) this Saturday (10/13)

Field Hockey Takes Fairfield Warde

By Claire Dickson:
The girls field hockey team continues its reign with another FCIAC championship win against Fairfield Warde on Friday. (11/5) This is the girls' fourth FCIAC title in four years, making Darien the team to beat in the field hockey world. It all started with senior Madeleine Gill who scored within the first 10 minutes of the game while seniors Ellie Reigel and Alex Iqbal added to the score making it 3-0. Then Gill topped off the score with a goal at the end of the game for a 4-0 final, blanking Fairfield Warde. Gill's extraordinary play led to her receiving the MVP award for the game. Come see the girls field hockey team keep their dynasty with their first state game at 2p on Tuesday (11/9) at DHS.

Girls Diving Lands FCIAC Second Place

-By: Julia Lang-

For the first time this decade, all four Darien divers competed in the FCIAC finals at Westhill High School on Thursday (11/14). The wave finished second, loosing only to the Greenwich Cardinals. Freshman Molly Klein finished 16th and senior Adrianna Baker finished 10th. The dynamic Ashcraft duo showed off their talents, with senior Alexandra finishing third and sophomore Caroline finishing fifth. Alexandra also made it onto the 1st team all FCIAC team while Caroline made the 2nd team. Despite the team’s amazing results, Baker said that the officials “were judging really low”. “At the meet, the judging was erratic as usual,” Baker said. While the officials may have been scoring more harshly than usual on Thursday, the team is still thrilled with its results. Darien finished only 7 points behind Greenwich High School with a total score of 38 points. Follow the team’s results as they head to States later this month! The girls will dive for the first time in the class L division for States Wednesday (11/10). Congratulations Darien Divers!

Pictured: Senior Alexandra Ashcraft and sophomore Caroline Ashcraft celebrating.

10 In a Row

-By: Ian Sullivan-

The Darien High School Girls' Volleyball Team won its 10th straight FCIAC championship on Saturday (11/6) edging out Fairfield Ludlowe in three straight games to crown an undefeated season. The top-seeded Wave only lost two games all season, finishing their FCIAC journey with a 21-0 record. Ludlowe seemed not be much of a competition who won by the scores of 25-17, 25-16, and 25-21 for all three games. Senior captain Mackenzie Begley was one of many overjoyed with the victory. "I'm so proud of our team and hope we can continue another streak in the state tournament," Begley said. The top-seeded Wave's next challenge will be at home on Thursday (11/11) against Windsor or Guilford in the first game of the state tournament. Come support the Blue Wave!

Pictured: Senior captain Mackenzie Begley and junior Katie Stueber

Field Hockey Trounces New Canaan

By Emily Close

One step closer to their 4th FCIAC title, the Darien Blue Wave Field Hockey team grabbed another win on Tuesday (11/2) beating New Canaan 8-2. Senior Maddy Gill racked up 4 goals while senior Sophie Watters (pictured) contributed with two goals, and senior Courtney Wynne and freshmen Hollis Perticone each scoring once. The New Caanan Rams were no match for the Blue Wave, who remain undefeated proving that no team has brought the same level of competition to the playing field. See if the BWFH girls can add one more win and one more title to their trophy shelf at 4pm on Friday (11/5) against Fairfield Warde at Wilton High school.

Girls' Swim Team Moves onto FCIACS

-By: Katrina Vassell-


Darien Girls Varsity Swim Team went to FCIAC trials at Greenwich High School on Wednesday. (11/3) The Top 16 swimmers for each event qualified for finals. Darien competed against New Canaan, Greenwich, Staples, Westhill/Stamford, Fairfield Ludlow, Fairfield Warde, Wilton, Saint Joe's, Trumbull, Ridgefield, and Norwalk for the fastest times. Four swimmers from each of the schools were placed in the events. “This is a huge meet. It’s the first of our championship season, and we are really psyched to do well and get some great times” senior captain Lindsay Tyler said. The 50 freestyle qualifiers were senior Catherine Treesh and freshmen Amanda Bieler, and sophomore Francesca Milewski. Senior Captain Lindsay Tyler qualified in the 200 freestyle with a time of 1:59. Junior Caroline Kearney and sophomore Caroline Orem (pictured) both qualified in the 200 IM. With 5 wins so far, Darien has started a strong season. It has only lost to Greenwich, New Canaan, and Wilton, out of eight schools. The next championship meet is on Saturday (11/6) at Greenwich.

Football Season Update: FCIACs in Sight

-By: Darius Majd-

As the Darien High School football team’s undefeated season continues, many are undoubtedly beginning to recall the unbeaten run in 2008, which ended in a heartbreaking Turkey Bowl showdown with heated rival New Canaan. If the Rams’ 28-27 loss to St. Joe’s took a bit of the luster off of this year’s match up, their 43-7 blowout victory over Wilton reaffirmed many fans’ belief that this year’s Turkey Bowl will live up to the excitement of that 28-20 thriller, as well as the 14-7 defeat a year ago.

But despite all of the parallels to the 2008 season, and the FCIAC Championship that was decided on Thanksgiving that year, this season’s meeting is different: it will have no bearing on Darien’s FCIAC title hopes. This is because the 2010 FCIAC Football Championship will be played in Trumbull on Nov.19. This is six days before the game against New Canaan, who was eliminated from FCIAC contention with the loss to St. Joe’s. And 2008 was an aberration, as the two rivals were slated to meet in FCIACs well in advance, prompting officials to make the upcoming Thanksgiving game the championship.

Darien has two more games before then, against Westhill and Norwalk, and if they win those two they are guaranteed a spot in the finals, a match up against either Trumbull or Staples (most likely decided in a head-to-head clash on Nov.13). With the New Canaan game out of the FCIAC picture, Darien’s chances of reaching the game have significantly increased; Westhill has been beaten convincingly in its last six games after opening the season with a win over currently winless Harding, and Norwalk is 3-4, following up a season-opening upset of powerhouse Greenwich with some ugly losses to top-tier FCIAC opponents. Still, Darien senior captain Charlie Kunze says the team needs to stay grounded and stay at the top of its game: “We need to stay focused and make sure that we don’t make mistakes, and get better in these two weeks against Westhill and Norwalk.”

The Blue Wave Football team continues in its quest for perfection against Westhill at 2pm this Saturday (11/6) at Westhill High School. Then Nov 13 is the final game towards FCIAC qualification at home at 1:30pm against Norwalk.

Photo: Senior captain Charlie Kunze and the rest of the Darien defense have terrorized opposing offenses all season long.