The excellent Darien and Staples field hockey teams played against each other twice in postseason tournament finals and each of them won one championship.
Darien went into the 2023 FCIAC Field Hockey Tournament as the five-time defending conference champion and coach Mo Minicus and her Blue Wave won their sixth straight conference crown with a 3-0 victory over Staples on Nov. 3 at Wilton High School’s Tom Fujitani Field.
Both teams won three games in the CIAC Class L Tournament to set up their rematch in the final, and the Staples Wreckers got their revenge and a state championship with a 3-1 victory over the defending champion Blue Wave at Wethersfield High School on Nov. 18.
And that also was the key reason why coach Ian Tapsall’s Staples Wreckers were the unanimous choice for No. 1 in the Coaches Top 10 High School Field Hockey Final State Poll. They received all eight first-place votes.
Staples and Darien were ranked 1-2 while leading a group of five FCIAC teams ranked in the final Top 10. Staples finished the season with a 20-2-0-1 overall record and received 160 polling points. Darien’s 21-2 Blue Wave got 132 polling points.
Fifth-ranked New Canaan (13-7-0-1), No. 6 Wilton (14-6), and No. 10 Ridgefield (14-4-0-1) were the three other FCIAC teams ranked in the Top 10.
New Canaan advanced to the CIAC Class M Field Hockey Tournament championship game and lost a 1-0 overtime thriller to Daniel Hand, which completed its unbeaten season with a 22-0-1 record and was ranked No. 3 in that final state poll with just two less polling points than Darien.
Top-seeded Darien, second-seeded Staples, third-seeded Ridgefield, and fourth- seeded Greenwich all won on their own home fields in the first round of the FCIAC Field Hockey Tournament on Oct. 27.
Darien shut out eighth-seeded Fairfield Ludlowe, 8-0, Staples posted a 7-2 victory over No. 7 New Canaan,
Ridgefield won by a 5-3 margin over No. 6 Norwalk, and Greenwich shut out No. 5 Wilton, 7-0.
In the FCIAC semifinals at the neutral site of Brien McMahon High School’s Jack Casagrande Field on Nov. 1, Darien defeated Greenwich, 3-2, and Staples won the penalty strokes format over Ridgefield by a 3-0 margin after both teams played to a 2-2 tie. Darien senior co-captain Blake Wilks scored all three goals, firing in her final two goals in the last 3:33 of regulation, in the 3-2 semifinal victory over Greenwich.
Two nights later Wilks scored the first goal of the game, teammate Ashley Stockdale scored the final two goals in the second half and was the game’s MVP, and goalie Ella Cherenik had seven saves to register the shutout in Darien’s 3-0 victory over Staples in the FCIAC championship game.
The second-seeded Staples Wreckers outscored their first three opponents in the Class L state tournament by a 14-1 margin to earn their rematch against top-seeded Darien, which outscored its three foes by a 16-2 margin, culminating with a 3-2 semifinal victory over Wilton in the semifinals.
Hope Hapgood gave Darien a 1-0 lead in the state Class L championship game. Sofia Fidalgo-Schioppa tied it for Staples to make it a 1-1 game by halftime. And then it was a freshman, Leah Larit, who was on the right spot to bang in a rebound for the eventual game-winning goal early in the second half before Storey Ahl added the insurance goal for the Wreckers in their 3-1 victory.
New Canaan was the only FCIAC team in the CIAC Class M tournament and was seeded sixth. The Rams gave further proof of the strength of they FCIAC as they made quite the run to the championship game, where they had that 1-0 overtime loss to top-seeded Daniel Hand.
The Rams outscored their first three foes by a 16-3 margin and advanced to the final with a 6-2 victory over second-seeded Guilford in which they overcame a 2-0 deficit. Izzy Schuh and Cara Passios each scored two goals after Margot Stanley scored New Canaan’s first goal and Rani Joshi got the tying goal.
The FCIAC had a combined 12-6 record in the Class L state tourney with its three semifinal teams and both championship game participants, and five of those six losses occurred against fellow conference teams.
With New Canaan’s 3-1 record in the Class M state tournament, the FCIAC had a 15-7 overall combined record in the two largest state tournaments.
Suffice it to say, many players from the conference deservedly received All-FCIAC and all-state postseason accolades.
Darien’s Stockdale was selected Player of the Year on the 2023 GameTimeCT All-State Field Hockey First Team as she led a contingent of eight conference players selected to the All-FCIAC First Team, Connecticut High School Coaches Association All-State Team, and GameTimeCT All-State First Team.
Stockdale, a senior midfielder, had 92 points and set school records for most points in a
season, most goals in a season (32), most assists in a season (28), most career points (161), and most career assists (51).
The seven other conference players selected to the All-FCIAC First Team and two all-state teams were Wilks (30 goals in 2023, 62 career goals, 157 career points), Katie Savino and Kate Bock (20 goals, 25 assists) of Darien; Fidalgo-Schioppa (17 goals, 16 assists), Tyla Ozgen (22 goals), and Emma Larit of Staples; and Schuh (24 goals, 21 assists) of New Canaan.
In addition to those eight players who earned all-conference and all-state honors, the 10 other players on the All-FCIAC Field Hockey First Team were Emi Arroyo, Julia Lattuada, Stella Thibeault and Kelly Janssen of Greenwich; Riley Fitzgerald and Mary Sylvester of Wilton; Mackenzie Peters and Eleanor Luft of Ridgefield; Norwalk’s Kaelyn Fogelson and Trumbull’s Erin Foley.