Even before the opening faceoff, it was evident a legitimate FCIAC title contender would be eliminated in the quarterfinals. No strangers to one another, the Darien and Wilton boys lacrosse teams met for the second time this season, and for the second time it was the Blue Wave walking away winners -- this time by a 9-6 margin -- advancing to Tuesday's FCIAC semifinals against the winner of Saturday night's meeting between No. 2 New Canaan and No. 7 St. Joseph. Darien led from the moment Ian Burgoyne opened the scoring in the first quarter, but the Wave were far from finished, building a 4-0 lead by quarter's end. Reed scored 59 seconds after Wilton had made it 4-2, and the Blue Wave scored twice in the final three minutes on goals by Cornell and Reed again for the 7-2 lead. Darien padded its lead to 8-2 early in the third when Lindley shot and scored while being knocked to the ground and took a commanding 9-2 advantage when Seiler assisted Cornell with 8:39 remaining in the third. Returning from a minor injury that caused him to miss the previous game, Huffard was back between the pipes for the Blue Wave, making 15 saves. After more than seven minutes of scoreless play, Wilton's Brendan Devane ended his team's drought and shrank the Warriors' deficit to 9-3 going into the fourth.

Darien cruises past Warde in FCIAC girls lacrosse playoffs Eleven different players found the back of the net as Darien began the defense of its FCIAC crown with a 22-5 win over Fairfield Warde in the FCIAC quarterfinals on Thursday afternoon. Darien (15-1) wrapped the game up early, scoring seven times in the first eight minutes en route to a 16-2 halftime lead. Often stuck behind some of the bigger names in the pecking order, Connors netted a hat trick and she, along with Matheis, kept the pressure on the Warde defense as the first unit rested for most of the game. Warde appeared in the FCIAC playoffs for just the second time in five seasons and will take part in the Class L state tournament. With the other major contenders looking for revenge after regular season defeats, the Blue Wave know they will have to be at their absolute best to repeat for the first time since 2006-07.

Darien boys lacrosse team routs Stamford in regular season finale The Darien boys lacrosse team closed out its regular season in style with a lopsided 16-2 victory against visiting Stamford on Tuesday at Darien High School. Darien's Peter Gesualdi tied the game at 1-1 after intercepting a pass and scoring on a long-distance shot into the vacated Stamford net, and Kyle Cornell scored his first of three markers to put the Blue Wave in front for good at 2-1, which was the score at the end of the first quarter. For Darien, which had already clinched a playoff spot, Peter Lindley and goalie Phil Huffard each sat out with minor injuries, but Brameier is hopeful that both will be back for Saturday. On the positive, Darien's Brendan Hathaway, who made his season debut in a 20-0 win over Trinity Catholic on Saturday, scored a goal in his second game back from injury.

On the seventh pitch with the count full, Maley connected for a sharply hit ground ball off the glove of the Warde second baseman and into center field for the game-winning single, scoring Nick Pettit. Maley's heroics may not have even been possible had it not been for the clutch hitting of fellow senior captain Carl Stowell, who went 3-for-4 with a pair of doubles all of his team's first three RBI. Perhaps the most crucial of those hits came in the bottom of the fifth, when Stowell came to the plate with two outs and Darien down 2-1 with runners on the corners. Warde took a 2-0 second inning lead when Michael Foley hit a run-scoring sacrifice fly to center and Tommy Luckner hit an RBI single. Facing a 4-3 deficit and down to their final three outs, the Mustangs again tied the game when Pete Detrik hit a one-out double and scored on an RBI double by Anthony Miller before Darien reliever Liam Naughton got out of the inning with a strikeout. Murray logged five and a third innings of three-run ball while allowing six hits and a pair of walks and notching one strikeouts.

Greenwich's William Waesche and Graham Savio were a combination the Darien High School boys lacrosse team had trouble solving Friday evening. With Waesche producing one of his best performances in goal and Savio winning the majority of his faceoffs, the Cardinals duo cooled off a hot Blue Wave squad. Junior midfielder Kyle Foote recorded two goals and two assists and junior attack Luke Finneran had a hat trick for the Cardinals, who beat the Blue Wave for the first time since eliminating them in the 2010 FCIAC Tournament semifinals. Trailing 5-1 at halftime, Darien (8-6) closed to within 5-3 on consecutive goals from junior midfielder Harry Gillespie midway through the third quarter. The Cardinals regained the momentum, however, thanks to Savio at the faceoff X. Savio won the ensuing draw and Finneran wound up tallying off a pin-point pass from sophomore Decker Curran, giving GHS a 6-3 advantage with 1:50 left in the third quarter. Finneran tallied in transition 2:30 into the opening quarter, junior attack Jamie Paradise put a shot from close in past Darien goalie Phill Huffard less than a minute later, and senior Will Gibian scored off a feed from Finneran at the 5:22 mark. "Greenwich came out of the gates with passion and fire and they outplayed us in the first half," said Darien senior attack and captain Kevin Seiler, who had two goals and one assist. The Cards responded with a pair of goals from Foote in the second quarter, one of which came off a laser from 15 yards out, giving the home team a 5-1 halftime lead.

Norwalk baseball coach Pete Tucci has seen his squad struggle down the stretch towards a possible absence of any postseason play for the second year and a row. The Bears showed fight Thursday, and, buoyed by the return of one of their best hitters, kept their state tournament aspirations alive with a solid performance in all three phases of the game. Tristan Opdahl marked his return to the starting lineup with a 3-for-3 performance that included a home run as Norwalk ended its six-game losing skid with a 6-0 win over Darien that put a serious dent in the Blue Wave's FCIAC playoff hopes. Opdahl, who missed most of the last month due to injury, drilled the second pitch he saw from Darien's Andrew Nault far over the left field fence to give the Bears a 2-0, first-inning lead. Norwalk put the game away in the fifth with five straight singles to open the inning. Darien tried to answer in the top half of the sixth, but Nick Pettit hit the ball hard into a double play and the Blue Wave were caught on a double steal attempt to end the threat. The Bears must win their final three games in order to qualify for the state tournament.

Though Greenwich held a slight edge in the first half, Darien dominated the second, impressively turning a one-goal halftime deficit into a convincing 17-9 win over the visiting Cardinals in a rematch of last season's FCIAC final. Junior Emily Stein scored a game-high six goals, while senior Taylor Hardison tallied two goals and five assists for Darien, which outscored Greenwich 11-2 after trailing 7-6 at halftime. Stein was the beneficiary of several pin-point passes from Hardison, who posted two goals and two assists in Darien's 17-14 victory against Greenwich in the 2012 FCIAC championship game. Junior Dillon Schoen took a hit to the nose while fighting her way through traffic en route to scoring the go-ahead goal for the Blue Wave at the 22:52 mark. Hollis Perticone's man-up tally capped a string of four unanswered goals by the home team, making it a 9-7 game. After Johnson put a low shot past Darien senior goalie Caylee Waters, the Blue Wave scored two straight, the second of which came off the stick of Stein, claiming an 11-8 edge 10 minutes into the second half. [...] executing their settled offense, the state's top-ranked team methodically increased its lead as the second half progressed. Sophomore Mariah Matheis rolled off a pick and scored off a pass from Stein, sophomore Anna Moorhead scored on a catch-and-shoot off a feed from Hardison and Hardison put a shot by GHS goalie Kylie Ginsberg on the run, putting Darien in front, 14-8.

Darien starts fast, deals Ridgefield first boys lax conference loss of season If Tuesday afternoon's clash between Ridgefield and Darien was in anyway indicative of what's to come in the postseason, lacrosse fans should be in for a treat. Darien, which did not trail in the game, got the jump on Ridgefield in the first quarter and held off the Tigers in the second half, defending its home turf with a 9-7 win while handing Ridgefield its first FCIAC loss. After nearly five more minutes of scoreless play and several clutch saves by Huffard and Ridgefield netminder Conor Shannon, Darien boosted its lead back to two when John Reed assisted Jack Kniffen with 4:41 remaining. Leading by two, Darien got possession with three minutes remaining and ran the clock down to 47 seconds before Ridgefield got it back, but the Tigers took just one more shot before time expired. Peter Lindley opened the scoring after receiving a pass from Kniffen and making a move around a Ridgefield defender, and Reed scored two goals in 25 seconds to run Darien's lead to 3-0 with 5:03 left in the first quarter. Huffard came up with six saves in the second half while only permitting a pair of goals, keying the Blue Wave's ability to hold off the Tigers and denying a potential game-tier on several occasions.

Putting its undefeated season on the line, Ridgefield defeated Darien for the second time this season with a 3-1 road victory. The defending FCIAC champs spotted the Blue Wave Game 1 before rallying for three straight wins to take the match. Tied 17-17 in Game 2, the Tigers began to take control of the match, thanks in no small part to the presence of Griffin Jones at the net. Winning three straight games is one of the hardest things to do in volleyball, so you've got to win the next one and get a little confidence. Tied at 22-22 late in Game 3, Ridgefield notched three consecutive points for the 25-22 victory and a 2-1 lead. Darien (7-7), which lost to Ridgefield 3-0 back on April 8, ensured that it would not be swept again when it started the match with a 25-21 victory in Game 1.

[...] the Darien girls lacrosse team probably needed a game like this. Entering Thursday undefeated in FCIAC play -- and having not won one of those games by fewer than seven goals -- the Blue Wave faced a tough road test when it traveled to Wilton to take on the rival Warriors. [...] they passed that test with a 12-7 win, with the five-goal differential also represented the largest lead for either team. A key sequence occurred near the end of the first half, during which the Blue Wave (10-1, 8-0 FCIAC) scored the final five goals heading into the break to turn a 4-2 deficit into a 7-4 advantage. There's a very likely chance we could see them in FCIACs again, so you never know. Leading just 9-7 with 18:55 to play after a goal by Wilton's Katherine Vincent, the Blue Wave tallied the game's final three goals (Emily Stein, Schoen and Hollis Perticone) to pull away for the 12-7 victory.