Ludlowe thriving in challenging FCIAC
Moving up the ranks of girls lacrosse in Connecticut is tough enough. When you’re in the FCIAC and squaring off with teams consistently ranked at the top of regional polls, it becomes a nearly impossible task.
That hasn’t stood in the way of the Fairfield Ludlowe Falcons. In fact, they welcome the challenge.
“The FCIAC is a gantlet, but we embrace that,” head coach Kimberly Sheehan said. “Especially as a young team, I view us as being fortunate to face challenging competition game after game — I think it’s helped our progress, really forcing us to raise our level of play and come together as a squad.”
The results are clear. With a roster that features only two seniors — cocaptains Maddie Herron on defense and Taylor Horine on attack — the Falcons have soared to a 12-4 record, the No. 6 seed in the FCIAC tournament and a No. 6 ranking in the state.
Ludlowe is also trending upwards heading into the postseason, with successive victories over Warde 9-3, Pomperaug 13-12 and Wilton 9-6 during a recent seven-day span. The Falcons lost to Staples 11-10 in the regular-season finale on Saturday, but will get another shot at the Wreckers when they square off in the FCIAC quarterfinals in Westport at 4 p.m. on Friday.
The win over rival Warde was satisfying, but the victory over perennial power Wilton, the third-ranked team in the state, was the true eye-opener.
“The wins over Warde, our biggest rival whom we had not beaten in seven years, and Wilton were huge for us,” Sheehan said. “As a team, these wins gave us confidence in ourselves and I believe showed not only us, but also the league, that we are a great team with a lot of talent.”
The two senior co-captains have been key to the team’s development.
“Maddie Herron and Taylor Horine are both extremely coachable athletes who model what it means to be a great teammate,” Sheehan said. “They pump us up and take things seriously while reminding us to have fun and support one another.”
There have been numerous stars for the Falcons.
Georgia Hoey, a junior goalie, has been outstanding — Sheehan called her “a machine” — and Herron leads the defense in front of her.
The midfield corps features juniors Ashley Moynahan, Paloma Meehan and Caroline Sullivan.
Sophomore Callie Cirilli has been a huge weapon on attack, and led the way with four goals and one assist in the win over Wilton.
AND THEN THERE WERE NONE
The girls lacrosse postseason will have no unbeaten teams this season, as Staples bumped New Fairfield from the undefeated ranks with an 11-10 win on Tuesday at NFHS.
Both Staples and New Fairfield proved a point in the game.
“We knew New Fairfield was a tough team because they had an undefeated record,” Staples senior Elle Fair told Hearst’s Ryan Lacey. “It was a long bus ride but we came in with confidence; we possessed the ball on attack and played tough on defense.”
“It was awesome to be that close,” New Fairfield’s Kaitlyn Sousa said. “I think because we’re in Class S we’re overlooked and this shows that we can absolutely compete with the Class L teams. It doesn’t matter what class you’re in; there’s no reason to overlook anyone.”
Staples’ Kyle Kirby led the Wreckers with seven goals and one assists, while Fair had a hat trick and freshman goalie Sara DiGiovanni made seven saves.
For New Fairfield, Sousa scored four goals and Sydney Colesworthy scored twice. Senior goalie Rachel Mikolay was outstanding with 13 saves.
QUICK REMATCH
The rivalry contest between Ridgefield and Wilton was such a thriller, they’re going to do it again on Friday.
The eight-team FCIAC tournament kicks off this week with one of the best quarterfinal matchups featuring No. 5 Wilton (8-5) at No. 4 Ridgefield (10-6) at 5 p.m. at Tiger Hollow.
It’ll either be a chance for revenge or a double whammy for the Warriors, as the Tigers roared to a 10-8 victory over Wilton, ranked No. 3 in the state, at Kristine Lilly Field on Tuesday.
While Ridgefield finished the regular season on a high note, Wilton has lost three straight.
Warriors coach Meredith Meyran looked at the game as a learning experience.
“If we were going to lose to Ridgefield, this was the time to do it,” Meyran told Hearst’s Tim Murphy. “We need to learn from this loss. We have a couple of practices before FCIACs start (on Friday) to work things out.”
Ridgefield had big games from Caitlin Slaminko, who had four goals and one assist, and goalie Lexi Held, who came up big down the stretch, including a key save when Wilton had a free position with 13 seconds on the clock.
“I thought that even if Wilton scored a goal we were still OK,” Ridgefield coach Cece Berger said. “But then Lexi made a save and the ball went wide and took three or four seconds to get out of bounds. And that was the game.”