Just as the case has been every year for so many years in field hockey – no matter the year, no matter the decade – the FCIAC is once again extremely strong in having several of the best teams in the state.
Darien has won the previous six FCIAC championships, Staples is the defending state Class L champion, and Darien, Staples, and Wilton were ranked 1-3 respectively in a recent Connecticut Coaches Top 10 Field Hockey Poll in which the conference had five of the top nine ranked teams.
Just after that poll was released a couple weeks ago, the second-ranked Staples Wreckers put themselves in great position to secure the top seed in this week’s 2024 FCIAC Field Hockey Tournament with their impressive 5-2 victory over top-ranked Darien on their own home Ginny Parker Field on Oct. 11.
The Wreckers have since clinched that No. 1 seed and six teams have qualified for the FCIAC tournament, which is scheduled to begin this Thursday, Oct. 24. Going into this week’s final two days of the regular season, Oct. 21 and Oct. 22, four teams were still in the mix to grab one of the final two playoff berths.
Staples clinched the No. 1 seed with a 2-0 victory at Greenwich on Oct. 16 to improve its FCIAC record to 13-0-0-0. That gave the Wreckers 26 points going into their final game and a three-point lead over second-place Fairfield Ludlowe (23 points, 11-1-0-1 conference record) in the FCIAC standings as of Oct. 19. The other four teams who have qualified for the FCIAC tournament are third-place Darien (22 points, 11-1-0-0), Greenwich (20 points, 10-3-0-0), Wilton (20 points, 10-3-0-0), and sixth-place Ridgefield (16 points, 8-5-0-0).
Fairfield Warde and Trumbull both had 13 points with their identical 6-6-0-1 conference records while New Canaan (5-6-1-1) and Norwalk (6-7-0-0) had 12 points and hopes of snatching one of the final playoff berths.
There were a few key games scheduled to be played during the final two days of the regular season to decide those last two playoff berths, including two on Tuesday, Oct. 22.
Darien was set to play a pivotal role in the final two days of the regular season while also trying to earn the No. 2 seed. The third-place Blue Wave was scheduled to finish up with two road games against playoff contenders in traveling to New Canaan on Monday and to Trumbull on Tuesday. Norwalk visits Fairfield Warde in another vital game on Tuesday as that showdown among two teams vying for a No. 7 or No. 8 seed is the final game of the regular season for both teams.
Although coach Ian Tapsall’s Staples Wreckers are set with the No. 1 seed, their home finale Oct. 21 against second-place Fairfield Ludlowe is important toward determining whether Ludlowe or third-place Darien grabs the No. 2 seed.
As for the four teams vying for the last two playoff berths, two previous games involving those teams may impact tiebreaking scenarios. Fairfield Warde (13 points) went into this final week in seventh place technically because of its 1-0 home victory over Trumbull (13 points) on Sept. 25, and New Canaan (12 points) was in ninth place because of its 2-0 victory at Norwalk (12 points) on Sept. 12.
Staples has a 14-1-0-0 overall record, and the Wreckers are undefeated against state competition as they lost their only game of the season to Camden Catholic (N.J.), 3-2, on Sept. 22.
The FCIAC Tournament is scheduled to begin Thursday (Oct. 24) at the home fields of the four highest-seeded teams.
The two semifinal games and the championship game will all take place at Wilton High School. The Saturday semifinals on Oct. 26 will be played at 3 and 5 p.m., with the highest-seeded remaining team having the choice of which game it will play in. The Oct. 29 championship will begin at 6:30 p.m.
In addition to Darien, Staples and Wilton being ranked 1-3 in the coaches’ state poll released a couple weeks ago, Fairfield Ludlowe was ranked No. 6 and Greenwich was No. 9.
Last year the Darien Blue Wave of longtime successful veteran coach Mo Minicus won its sixth consecutive FCIAC championship with a 3-0 victory over Staples. Fifteen days later Staples won the rematch with a 3-1 victory over defending state champion Darien in the 2023 Connecticut Interscholastic Athletic Conference Class L Field Hockey Tournament final. That Class L state championship game was the fourth showdown between Staples and Darien since 2016, when they were co-champions after a scoreless tie. Last year Staples won its fifth Class L state title since 2016. When Staples and Darien shared that 2016 Class L championship, that began a streak of four consecutive Class L championships for Staples from 2016-19.
Greenwich has the record of 17 FCIAC championships and Darien won its 16th conference crown last year. When Greenwich and Darien were both co-champions in 1985 it was the third FCIAC crown for both. Greenwich then embarked on a dynastic run with 13 more titles from 1989-2006. When Greenwich and Darien were co-champions in 2012, that was Greenwich’s 17th and last FCIAC championship and Darien’s eighth conference crown at that point. That was also the early portion of Darien’s current exceptional stretch in which the Blue Wave has won 13 FCIAC championships in the previous 15 seasons since 2007.
Wilton defeated Staples in the 2016 conference final, the last time a team other than Darien was the FCIAC champion. Darien won three conference championships in a row from 2017-19, there was no FCIAC championship in 2020 because of the COVID-19 Pandemic, and then the Blue Wave won another three straight FCIAC titles from 2021-23.
As for the state tournaments, a team from the FCIAC has either won or shared the Class L championship in every one of the last 11 seasons since 2012 when Darien’s Blue Wave began that run with a 4-0 victory over Cheshire.
A conference team has won or shared a state Class L championship in 17 of the last 19 seasons since Fairfield Warde won the 2004 Class L state championship with a 3-2 victory over Greenwich.
And the previous three Class L finals have all featured showdowns of FCIAC teams.
New Canaan won the 2021 crown with a 3-1 victory over Wilton, two years ago Darien won with a 4-0 victory over Wilton, and then last year Staples dethroned Darien with that 3-1 victory.
Darien, Wilton and New Canaan have played in Class L and Class M tournaments and that trio has combined to win 11 Class M state championships from 2003-16. Darien won four in a row from 2007-10, Wilton has also copped four Class M crowns and New Canaan won three.
So, it stands to reason that tradition will be maintained with some of the best field hockey in the state being played in the upcoming FCIAC and state tournaments.