Staples’ season is off to a rolling start with seven wins
It’s a familiar refrain. Every spring, when the top teams in FCIAC girls lacrosse are mentioned, the fantastic four — Darien, New Canaan, Wilton and Greenwich — are noted, and then people move on.
Don’t sleep on the 2019 Staples Wreckers.
After going 8-9 and suffering first-round TKOs courtesy of Darien in the FCIAC and Class L playoffs, the Wreckers have roared out of the game this season. They’re one of just two 7-0 teams — the other being Pomperaug in Class M — and made a loud noise in the first week when they beat Greenwich 16-10 on the Cardinals’ home turf.
That set a tone for Staples in terms of both FCIAC and state rankings, and in confidence for the players.
“Beating Greenwich at the beginning of the season was a great early win for us and was especially important for this senior class as they had never beaten Greenwich,” Staples coach Nicole Gerosa said. “We’re working hard to be a contender as one of the top teams in the FCIAC and are taking it one game at a time. There’s a lot of time left in the season and still a lot of room to grow.”
Staples, which is ranked No. 4 in the state coaches poll, features five co-captains with seniors Samantha Pacilio and Alexa Mysel on defense, senior Izzy Cardello on attack, and senior Elle Fair and junior Kathleen Cozzi on midfield.
Fair is a multi-sport star and has committed to play both field hockey and lacrosse at Trinity College, and Cozzi has verbally committed to play lacrosse at William & Mary.
“Each captain has a role on the team and have all Newtown at Cheshire, Saturday, 11 a.m.:
Canton at New Fairfield, Saturday, 4:30 p.m.: Both teams went deep in the Class S tourney last year, with Canton reaching the semifinals and New Fairfield winning the championship.
New Canaan at Ridgefield, Monday, 6 p.m.: No. 8 Ridgefield gets No. 2 New Canaan on its home turf of Tiger Hollow. been great leaders on and off the field since the start of the season,” Gerosa said. “They have all had positive attitudes, come every day with a hard work ethic and hold their teammates accountable.”
Staples also received an added boost with the return of junior attack Kyle Kirby. Kirby, who has committed to play at Notre Dame, missed most of her sophomore season while recovering from ACL surgery. She’s healthy now and lighting up the stat sheet with a team-high 46 draw controls and 37 points on 21 goals and 16 assists.
Sophomore Shira Parower has also been a boon, tying Kirby for the team lead with 21 to go along with 14 assists. Fair is not far behind those two with 17 goals and three assists. The bullpen tossed 10 scoreless innings during a three-game winning streak beginning with Jared Gallagher’s two-inning save against Sacred Heart. Michael Delease, Tim Buchek and Gallagher have three scoreless innings each during that span.
BY THE NUMBERS
1: Ranking for the SCSU men’s track team in the Division II East Region national rankings after finishing second in the UConn Northeast Challenge. The Owls have three competitors and a relay team among the top 15 in the Division II national rankings as Feiro Onakpoma has the fourth-best mark in the triple jump, the
4x400 relay squad is 13th while Milan Spisek (pole vault) and Hunter Stokes (javelin) are 14th. The SCSU women’s team is ranked third in the East.
1: Hits allowed by Wesleyan’s Brenna Monroe in game two of a doubleheader sweep of Mitchell College.
3: Doubles for Albertus Magnus’s Elijah Spataj of Cheshire to lead the baseball team to a 3-0 week and earn GNAC Rookie of the Week honors.
4: School records set by Connecticut College women’s track and field team at the Silfen Invitational with Shannon Kennedy (heptathlon, 100-meter hurdles), Koko Mensah (shot put) and Emily Senatore (hammer) set program records.
4: Number of one-goal wins in six MAAC games for first-place Fairfield women’s lacrosse team.
4: Quinnipiac’s seed in the upcoming National Collegiate Acrobatics & Tumbling Championships being hosted by No. 1 seed