The Staples boys’ lacrosse team was very impressive while winning it first state championship.
So, consequently, coach Will Koshansky’s 19-3 Wreckers impressed the state poll voters enough that they moved up two spots and became the logical and unanimous choice for No. 1 in the Final 2022 GametimeCT Top 10 Boys Lacrosse Poll.
The Wreckers defeated Darien, 12-3, in the championship game of the CIAC Class L Boys Lacrosse Tournament and that resulted in them receiving all 15 first-place votes and 150 polling points from the group of voters which consists of several coaches and mostly media members.
Staples, which won its first postseason championship in school history, led the way in a particularly dominant year for the FCIAC. Staples, Darien (20-3), state Class M champion Wilton (19-4), and Ridgefield (15-5) were ranked 1-4 in that order, and the conference had six teams in the top seven spots. Greenwich (13-7) and New Canaan (11-8) were ranked sixth and seventh, respectively.
Fairfield Prep (15-5) was ranked fifth as the highest-ranked non-FCIAC team, while Cheshire (17-4), Daniel Hand (15-5) and state Class S champion Weston (19-4) were ranked 8-10.
Fairfield Ludlowe (12-7) from the FCIAC received the 11th most polling points as the first of the three teams in the “Also receiving votes” category.
Darien, which won the FCIAC championship with a 12-6 victory over Wilton in late May, was ranked No. 1 prior to the state tournament. The Blue Wave received 131 polling points in the final Top 10 poll to drop down one spot to No. 2. Third-ranked Wilton was seven points lower than Darien with 124 points, while No. 4 Ridgefield got 99 polling points.
Staples and Darien were ranked 11th and 12th, respectively, in the final USA Lacrosse Magazine National Boys’ Top 25 poll which was released on June 14. Wilton was No. 22.
Staples surged up to No. 11 after not being ranked in the previous national poll and Darien had been No. 4 in that previous poll. Wilton, which won the state Class M championship with a 22-6 victory over Notre Dame-West Haven, moved up two spots to No. 22.
Darien was seeded first in state Class L tournament and the Blue Wave advanced to the final with a 16-9 semifinal victory over fifth-seeded Fairfield Prep. Tyler Clark sent Staples into the state championship game when he fired in the game-winning goal to give the second-seeded Wreckers a 9-8 overtime victory over third-seeded and defending champion Ridgefield in the other semifinal.
Wilton was seeded third in the FCIAC tournament and coach Steve Pearsall’s Warriors nipped second-seeded Staples, 7-6, in the semifinals. Coach Jeff Brameier’s top-seeded Blue Wave advanced to the FCIAC championship with an 8-5 semifinal victory over fifth-seeded Greenwich to set up a second consecutive conference championship with that 12-6 victory over Wilton.
Darien now has the record of 19 FCIAC championships, all of them since the first one in 1993 and all of them under Brameier’s guidance.
Brameier’s Blue Wave led the way with five selections on the 2022 All-FCIAC Boys Lacrosse First Team – Matthew Minicus, Christian Allegro, Joe Cesare, David Evanchick, and Jeremiah Stafford.
Staples, Wilton, and Ridgefield each had four first-team selections while New Canaan had three Rams picked to the 20-player all-conference first team.
Pearsall was named Coach of the Year and his four Wilton Warriors on the All-FCIAC first team were Ben Calabrese, Caleb Rath, Jake Sommer, and Colin Lenskold.
The other 11 players on the all-conference first team included: Charlie Howard, Ryan Thompson, Mike Nealon, and Henry Dodge of Staples; Kyle Colsey, Ryan Colsey, Josiah deGrasse, and Kai Prohaszkai of Ridgefield; and Carter Connors, Dillon Stephens, and Vincent Cognetta of New Canaan.