‘Comeback Kids’: Staples No. 1 in season’s final poll

FAIRFIELD — They warned us in mid-April, with that come-from-outof-nowhere win against Darien. The comeback in New Hampshire, the near-comeback in Massachusetts: Just more signal flares.

When the chips were down on the boys lacrosse field, Staples of Westport was going to be at its best. The Wreckers, CIAC Class L champions, are the No. 1 team in the final GameTimeCT Top 10 Poll of the 2023 season.

“Listen, polls are great. We say only one poll matters, the end-of-season poll,” coach Will Koshansky said after the 13-6 win Sunday over Fairfield Prep in the championship game. “If we’re (No.) 1, we’re 1. If we’re 2, we’re 2. Maybe we’re lower than that; it’d be fine. At the end of the day, the championship is what we’re competing for, not necessarily the ranking.”

In a year of parity, when all three games in the FCIAC semifinals and final were won by the team that lost the regularseason game, Staples (17-5) rebounded from a semifinal loss there to sweep through four games in the Class L bracket for its second consecutive championship and second consecutive finish atop the poll.

“Our players just find a way to win. We’ve had how many comebacks this year?” said Koshansky, who took over the Wreckers in 2019 and now has led them to the first two postseason titles in school history.

“I know the early-season story about us was we were the Comeback, Cardiac, whatever you want to call, Kids. They find a way to make the plays when it matters the most. I’m so incredibly proud of the boys for what they did (Sunday).”

Staples received 10 of 13 first-place votes and was second on the other three ballots. Cheshire, the Class M champion after an 18-3 win over HandMadison in Sunday’s final, earned the other three, though a handful of ballots had the Rams third or as low as sixth.

We can imagine what a Staples-Cheshire game might look like, but we won’t see it. A true completist might lament that we could have seen it in a hypothetical semifinal game: The CIAC allowed teams to opt up a division this year. Wilton and New Canaan took the option, playing up with their FCIAC buddies. Cheshire didn’t.

The Rams beat or were competitive with some really good Class L teams, too. Their only losses instate were by one goal, and they avenged the second by beating Fairfield Prep in the SCC final. The Jesuits were third, five points behind Cheshire in the poll.

Darien, which lost by just a goal to Staples in the semifinals, was fourth, followed by New Canaan. Wilton, which moved up to No. 1 after winning the FCIAC championship, fell back to sixth, with Ridgefield seventh.

Before the playoffs, St. Joseph-Trumbull was eighth with Weston right behind. The teams swapped places after Weston’s 11-6 victory over the Cadets in the Class S final on Sunday.

Hand and Simsbury tied for 10th in a fragmented vote for the the last spot.

In all, 18 teams received at least one vote this season, though only 14 earned a nod after the third week of the season.