Tigers ousted in semifinals
Archrivals DarienNew Canaan III will meet in the final
NORWALK — Get ready for Darien vs. New Canaan, Round 3.
The two rivals punched their tickets to the CIAC Class L championship game with semifinal victories at Brien McMahon’s Jack Casagrande Field in Norwalk on Monday night.
In the first semifinal, Darien received six goals and two assists from Ashley Humphrey and a hat trick from Sarah Jaques en route to a 16-9 win over the Wilton Warriors.
In the night cap, ninthseeded Ridgefield led New Canaan 4-3 at halftime, but the Rams scored the first three goals of the second half and went on to win 8-5. Kendall Patten led New Canaan with a hat trick and Campbell Connors had two goals.
The results set up a third meeting between fourthseeded New Canaan (18-4) and No. 2 Darien (20-2), who will play in the Class L final on Saturday at Jonathan Law High School in Milford at a time to be determined. The two rivals have been the top-ranked teams in the Connecticut Coaches Poll since the preseason.
Darien has won both meetings with New Canaan this season — 11-10 during the regular season and then 12-7 in the FCIAC final two weeks ago.
“I’m super pumped to be playing Darien in the final,” Patten said. “We can finally get redemption against them and its exciting to finish out my senior year in the state championship.” .
But the Wave is still looking to avenge a loss to the Rams in last year’s Class L semifinals, a defeat which ended Darien’s five-year reign as state champs. New Canaan went on to beat Ridgefield 19-7 for the Class L title.
Beating Wilton in the semis on the same field where they were eliminated last year was meaningful for the Wave
“Our memories from this field last year aren’t great, so we’re happy to have a different outcome this year,” Humphrey said. “We’re definitely liking forward to the state final now.”
Wilton had early leads at 1-0 and 2-1 after goals from Olivia Gladstein and Taylor LaMantia, but Darien took over when Humphrey scored three times in a span of two minutes.
The Wave pushed the advantage to 6-3 at halftime and scored the first four goals of the second half for a 10-3 lead.
“We were nervous early and we were a little careless with the ball, but once we got a couple of goals up, we really settled in,” Humphrey said. “We worked the ball around and converted on our shots.”
Wilton’s Carly Sullivan scored twice to cut the deficit to five goals, but the Warriors could get no closer as their season cane to an end.
Ridgefield cane out strong against New Canaan in game two and led 4-3 at the break. Connors tied the score 26 seconds into the second half and goals by Dillyn Patten and Kaleigh Harden put the Rams in front for good at 6-4.
Ridgefield hung tough, but New Canaan was able to posses the call for big chunks of time down the stretch.
“We used the lead that we had right off the bat in the second half to our advantage,” Connors said. “We executed well and we possessed really well.”
With one game to play for the rivals, no one is easing off the pedal.
“We’re not settling down,” Elders said. “We’re going to keep working hard, keep the momentum going because we want that state championship more than anything.”