It is an annual tradition in the FCIAC in the middle of May regarding girls lacrosse and boys lacrosse.
That is when the conference tournaments commence for both sports and those tourneys always involve many of the best teams in the state. That is always the situation. The state and national polls back up those facts.
The four quarterfinal games are played at the home fields of the top four seeded teams and then followed by the semifinal rounds and championship games played at neutral sites in both the girls and boys lacrosse tournaments.
The 2024 FCIAC Girls Lacrosse Tournament began May 16. The semifinals on May 20 and the May 22 championship will be played at Brien McMahon High School. Darien defeated New Canaan, 11-7, in last year’s FCIAC final.
The top three seeded teams impressively won their opening quarterfinal games and fifth-seeded Greenwich advanced to Monday’s semifinal doubleheader with a 13-11 victory at fourth-seeded Ridgefield. Top-seeded New Canaan advanced with an 18-1 victory over No. 8 Norwalk, No. 2 Wilton defeated No. 7 Fairfield Ludlowe, 17-4, and No. 3 Darien beat No. 6 Staples, 23-2.
New Canaan plays Greenwich in the opening game of Monday’s semifinal doubleheader at 4 p.m. The Wilton-Darien game is scheduled to begin at 6 p.m. The opening faceoff of Wednesday’s championship at Brien McMahon’s Jack Casagrande Field is also 6 o’clock.
The 2024 FCIAC Boys Lacrosse Tournament was scheduled to begin May 17 with two quarterfinal games. The other two quarterfinal games are May 18. Wilton High School will host the May 21 semifinals and May 23 championship at Tom Fujitani Field.
The schedule for Friday afternoon’s May 17 quarterfinal games had top-seeded New Canaan hosting No. 8 Fairfield Ludlowe at 4 p.m., and No. 6 Greenwich playing at No. 3 Ridgefield at 5 p.m. The May 18 schedule has No. 5 Staples at No. 4 Wilton at noon, and No. 7 St. Joseph at No. 2 Darien at 3 p.m.
Wilton is the defending champion as the Warriors won the school’s first FCIAC championship in 24 years last year with their 8-4 victory over New Canaan.
When it comes to this girls lacrosse season, it’s plausible that it could be considered the greatest year ever in terms of the quality of the conference’s top teams.
That would be a strong assertion given the traditional strength of FCIAC girls lacrosse in all the previous years. But it is a valid consideration for lacrosse afficionados if one puts credence into the current state and national polls.
New Canaan has the No. 1 ranking and all five teams ranked 1-through-5 in the Connecticut Girls Lacrosse Coaches Poll are FCIAC teams.
New Canaan is ranked No. 6 and is one of the three conference teams along with Wilton (No. 9) and Darien (No. 10) ranked among the top 10 in the latest USA Lacrosse National Girls Lacrosse Top 25 poll. The coaches’ state poll was released May 14 and the USA Lacrosse national poll is also as of May 14.
New Canaan (15-1-1), Wilton (12-2), Darien (11-3-1), Ridgefield (12-3), and Greenwich (8-6) are those five FCIAC teams ranked 1-5, respectively, and they all have the same exact rankings they had in the previous state poll.
Six FCIAC teams are ranked among the top seven with Staples (9-6) at No. 7 behind sixth-ranked Masuk (14-2). Newtown (13-3), Weston (12-3), and New Fairfield (12-3) complete the top 10. All the top 10 teams’ records listed in parenthesis are what they were at the time the voting took place.
Coach Kristin Woods’ New Canaan Rams received 11 of the 13 first-place votes and 128 polling points while second-ranked Wilton got the other two first-place votes and 113 points, just three points more than No. 3 Darien (110).
The previous poll ensured a No. 1-versus-No. 2 showdown on May 9 at Wilton. New Canaan’s visiting Rams outscored Wilton 6-0 in the third quarter to break open the close game and pull away for the 12-4 victory which secured their No. 1 ranking for this current state poll. Maddie Tully had two goals and a pair of assists, Lexie Tully and Devon Russell each had a hat trick, Syndey Patten netted two goals, and goalie Ceci Patterson had a dozen saves to lead New Canaan. Addison Dobson had a goal and an assist to lead Wilton.
New Canaan and Darien both have one tie this season because they played each other to a 5-5 tie at Darien on April 25.
Darien had a strong finish to its regular season with two impressive victories on the road. The Blue Wave won, 10-6, at Greenwich on May 9 and finished up with an 18-6 victory at Ridgefield on May 13.
Prior to Wilton’s loss to New Canaan, Wilton had a big 9-8 home victory over Darien on May 2 followed by an 18-10 victory two days later at Ridgefield. Those wins by Wilton are why the FCIAC now has three teams ranked in the top 10 of the latest USA Lacrosse National Girls Lacrosse Top 25 poll on the www.usalacrosse.com website.
St. Anthony’s (15-0), from South Huntington, N.Y., is ranked No. 1 in the nation and followed by Good Counsel (20-0) from Maryland. New Canaan’s only loss this season was at St. Anthony’s, 10-7, back on April 13.
In the GameTimeCT Top 10 Boys Lacrosse Poll which was released May 15, Fairfield Prep maintained its No. 1 ranking and was followed by FCIAC teams New Canaan, Darien, and Ridgefield. Those top four teams all have the same rankings they had in the previous poll.
The FCIAC is once again prominent in this poll with seven conference teams in the Top 10.
Fairfield Prep was the unanimous No. 1 choice with all 12 first-place votes.
The Top 10 teams in order, with their respective records in the parenthesis the same as they are listed in the poll, are: Fairfield Prep (13-1), No. 2 New Canaan (13-3), No. 3 Darien (11-5), No. 4 Ridgefield (13-3), Cheshire (12-3), No. 6 Staples (10-6), No. 7 Wilton (8-7), No. 8 Greenwich (8-7), Notre Dame-West Haven (13-3), and No. 10 St. Joseph (12-4).
Brunswick (15-0) from Greenwich was ranked No. 1 in the USA Lacrosse High School Boys’ National Top 25 as of May 14 and followed by Lawrenceville (17-1) from New Jersey and St. Anthony’s (12-2) from New York.
Fairfield Prep is No. 16 and New Canaan is No. 22. Fairfield Prep’s Jesuits nipped New Canaan, 8-7, on their own Rafferty Stadium field on April 25.
Max Lowe had five goals and an assist to lead New Canaan’s Rams to their impressive 14-1 home victory over Wilton on May 9. They finished the regular season with a 12-8 loss at home to Don Bosco Prep (N.J.) on May 14.
In this season’s other showdowns involving the four highest-seeded teams in the FCIAC boys tournament: New Canaan is 3-0 in such matchups with victories by the close scores of 10-9 at Ridgefield on April 13 and 7-5 over Darien at home on April 27 prior to that 14-1 over Wilton on May 9; Darien defeated Ridgefield at home, 10-6, on April 14 and then got a 9-3 victory at Wilton on May 2; and Ridgefield won at Wilton, 9-7, on April 25.