The Staples boys’ lacrosse program won the first state championship in school history two years ago and then defended that Connecticut Interscholastic Athletic Conference Class L Boys Lacrosse Tournament title last year.
This year coach Will Koshansky’s team achieved another big milestone. This first FCIAC championship in school history.
That initial conference title for Staples, and Darien advancing to the championship games in both the FCIAC and state tournaments highlighted what was another successful boys’ lacrosse season for the conference.
Ridgefield attackman Kylie Colsey concluded his stellar career with a senior season so great that he was selected the state’s Player of the Year by the Connecticut High School Coaches Association and the National Interscholastic Lacrosse Coaches Association.
The FCIAC had many teams advance deep into their respective state tournaments and eventually seven teams ranked in the Top 10 of the final state poll.
The sizzling sniping of Staples senior attack Adam Udell led Staples to a 7-6 overtime victory over Darien in the championship game of the 2024 FCIAC Boys Lacrosse Tournament at Wilton High School’s Tom Fujitani Field on May 23.
Udell fired in the sudden-victory goal eight seconds into overtime after he had scored the only three goals by either team in the fourth quarter to help the Wreckers rally back from a 6-3 deficit going into that final period. Udell scored the first of his five goals in the first quarter.
Tristan Schaefer scored the other two goals for Staples and goalie Josh Marcus had seven saves. Marcus and Darien’s Carter Hagen (five saves), the two goalies who were eventually selected to the 2024 All-FCIAC Boys Lacrosse Tier 1 First Team, both played very well and came up with some difficult saves. Briggs McGuckin had a goal and an assist, Ryan Thurlow, Wes Scallen and Porter Barnett each scored a goal while Brady Pokorny had two assists for coach Jeff Brameier’s Blue Wave.
Fifteen days later Darien played in the inaugural CIAC Class LL state championship game and the Blue Wave was victimized by a pair of Shannehans. Tim Shannehan had three goals and two assists and Luke Shannehan scored three goals to lead top-seeded Fairfield Prep to a 9-7 victory over second-seeded Darien on June 9 at Sacred Heart University. The CIAC added the LL classification this year as the fourth state tournament to the L, M, and S state tourneys it conducted from 2006-23. Elliott Lancaster scored three goals and McGuckin had two goals and an assist in the Class LL final to lead Darien, which finished 16-7.
Tim Shannehan previously had to two goals and three assists to lead Prep to a 10-7 semifinal victory over No. 4 seed Ridgefield, which was led by Kyle Colsey’s three goals and one assist. Brandon Penn and Jake Carney each had a goal and an assist for the Tigers, who finished 16-5.
Darien advanced to the state championship game with a 9-7 victory over No. 3 seed New Canaan. Thurlow had three goals and an assist, McGuckin also scored three goals, and Hagen had a dozen saves to lead the winners. Max Lowe had five points with a goal and four assists, Doster Crowell had two goals and an assist, and Cole Campisi also scored two goals to lead New Canaan’s Rams, who finished 16-5.
So strong and balanced were the FCIAC’s top teams that six conference teams were among the eight teams in quarterfinals and three advanced to the semifinals with quarterfinal victories over fellow conference teams. Darien defeated No. 4 seed Wilton, 12-4; Ridgefield beat FCIAC champion and No. 5 seed Staples, 13-8; and New Canaan advanced with an impressive 13-3 victory over No. 6 Greenwich.
The FCIAC had a combined 10-8 record in the Class LL tournament and a combined 16-11 record among its 11 teams in the two largest state tournaments. Because the male enrollment in the FCIAC schools is predominantly large, there were no conference teams in the Class M and Class S state tournaments.
Second-seeded St. Joseph advanced to the CIAC Class L Tournament with an 8-4 semifinal victory over fellow FCIAC member and No. 3 Fairfield Ludlowe. St. Joseph’s Cadets were nipped, 13-12, in the championship by No. 1 seed Cheshire. The Cadets, who finished 15-5, kept it close because James Corry led the offensive attack with four goals and two assists and goalie Mikey Coletti made several excellent saves among his 17 total.
Coletti had eight saves, Sean Archibald had two goals and two assists, Corry had a goal and three assists, while Dylan Greiner and Eli Restrepo each scored two goals in St. Joseph’s 8-4 semifinal victory over Fairfield Ludlowe. Wesley Feher scored two goals, Cormac Theissen had a goal and an assist, and goalie Noah Logue had
14 saves to lead Ludlowe’s Falcons, who finished 12-8.
New Canaan had a 5-0 record in the FCIAC West Division to earn the top seed in the FCIAC tournament. Also, in the FCIAC West Division, Darien was 4-1, Ridgefield 3-2, Wilton 2-3, Staples was 1-4 and got the accompanying No. 5 seed, and Greenwich was 0-5.
St. Joseph had an 8-0 record in the FCIAC East Division, Fairfield Ludlowe was second at 7-1, Stamford and Fairfield Warde tied for third at 5-3 and Trumbull was 4-4.
Staples advanced to the FCIAC championship with an 11-5 victory over New Canaan and Darien nipped Ridgefield, 9-8, in the May 21 semifinal doubleheader at Wilton High School’s Tom Fujitani Field.
Fairfield Prep (21-1) was unanimously voted No. 1 in the GameTimeCT Final 2024 Top 10 Boys Lacrosse Poll and was followed by FCIAC teams Darien (16-7), New Canaan (16-5), Ridgefield (16-5), and Staples (14-7) being ranked 2-5, respectively. The FCIAC had eight teams in the final Top 10. After No. 6 Cheshire (18-4),
conference teams Wilton (9-10, Greenwich (10-9) and St. Joseph (15-6) were ranked 7-9, respectively. Notre Dame-West Haven (15-5) completed the Top 10.
Darien was ranked No. 22 as one of the three teams from the state and the lone FCIAC team in the final 2024 USA Lacrosse National Top 25. Brunswick (17-1), from Greenwich, was No. 2 behind No. 1 Lawrenceille (19-1) from New Jersey. Fairfield Prep was No. 15.
There were 65 players who earned postseason All-FCIAC honors – 21 on Tier 1 First Team, and 22 on both the Tier 1 Second Team and Tier 2 First Team. The Tier 1 consisted of the six FCIAC West Division teams, generally the six traditional strongest programs, and the rest of the conference teams were the East Division teams designated as Tier 2.
Darien led the way with eight players selected to the 2024 All-FCIAC Boys Lacrosse Tier 1 First Team while New Canaan and Staples each had four. Those 21 All-FCIAC Tier I First Team selections were Porter Barnett, Brady Pokorny, Briggs McCuckin, Morgan Roppenstein, William Bonner, Mark McNamara, Elliott Lancaster, and Carter Hagan of Darien; Adam Udell, Tristan Schaefer, Caleb Smith, and Josh Marcus of Staples; New Canaan’s Doster Crowell, Colin Finnigan, Dillon Stephens, and JT O’Neil; Ridgefield’s Kyle Colsey and Des Couri; Wilton’s Jack Schwartz and Conner Flanagan; and Greenwich’s Colin Zeller.
NOTES: A bunch of years ago back around the early-1990s, Wilton High School’s longtime successful coach Guy Whitten was discussing the status of boys’ lacrosse in the FCIAC at that time. He and the New Canaan program under coach Howard Benedict generally combined to hog all the FCIAC and state championship plaques from the 1970’s into the early 1990’s. It was pretty much the Big Two of Wilton and New Canaan in that era. And then Brameier and the Darien program
turned it into the Big Three in the early 1990’s.
Shortly after Wilton won another FCIAC championship around that time, coach Whitten said that although it certainly was nice to add some more championship hardware to Wilton’s trophy case, he would love it for the FCIAC and for the sport if there was improvement from the other schools and more balanced and deeper strength in the conference. And then Whitten quickly added his prediction that was going to happen, citing that other Fairfield County communities were implementing solid lacrosse youth programs and that he was looking forward to that day when there would be several strong FCIAC boys’ lacrosse programs. That monumental Staples conference championship this season gave another example of how Whitten’s wish has occurred.
Staples is now the sixth school which has won an FCIAC championship since Wilton won the first one in 1977. Either Wilton or New Canaan won the first 15 FCIAC championships from 1977-91, with Whitten’s Warriors winning their 10th one in 1991.
Darien broke through to win the school’s first FCIAC crown in 1992. Greenwich was the fourth school to win a conference championship in 2007 and two years later Ridgefield became the fifth.
Brameier’s Darien Blue Wave won all their record 19 FCIAC championships from 1992-2022. After going 16-7 in his 41st year at Darien this past year, Brameier extended his record to 681 for the most wins by a coach in state history, and Darien has also won 14 state championships. Brameier’s Blue Wave won 17 FCIAC championships during the 26-year span from 1997-2022. Not bad for a guy whose earlier roots relating to spring sports was being an excellent baseball player at Darien High School. Wilton has the second most FCIAC championships, having won its 14th last year, and New Canaan is third with 10 conference crowns.