That perennial quality of excellent high school field hockey players and teams from the FCIAC was especially prevalent during the 2024 fall season.
This season’s major highlight was Staples High School winning both conference and state championships and was ranked No. 1 in the state and No. 7 in the country in final polls with a team that was certainly one of the best in school history – if not the best Staples field hockey team ever.
Among the other highlights, the FCIAC was so dominant in the Class L state tournament that there were six conference teams among the eight who advanced to the quarterfinals and all four semifinal teams were from the FCIAC.
Staples and Darien played against each other for the second straight year in the FCIAC and Class L state tournament championship games. Coach Ian Tapsall’s Staples Wreckers dethroned defending conference champion Darien Blue in an overtime thriller in the FCIAC final before they defended their own Class L state title.
The Wreckers finished with a 22-1-0 overall record which included being undefeated against teams from Connecticut after their 5-2 victory over Darien in the Connecticut Interscholastic Athletic Conference Class L Field Hockey Tournament final at Wethersfield High School on Nov. 16. Darien finished 20-3-0 with all three of its losses coming against Staples.
The Wreckers won their state title 18 days after their 3-2 overtime victory over Darien in the championship game of the 2024 FCIAC Field Hockey Tournament at Wilton High School’s Tom Fujitani Field on Oct. 29.
Staples senior midfielder Sofia Fidalgo Schioppa, eventually selected the state’s Player of the Year by GameTimeCT, came through in the clutch for the Wreckers at the end of that FCIAC tourney final. Darien was oh so close to defending its championship with a 2-1 lead as the clock was ticking down into the waning seconds of regulation before Fidalgo Schioppa scored the dramatic game-tying goal off a penalty corner with just 12 seconds remaining in the fourth quarter. Shortly thereafter Fidalgo Schioppa scored the game winner with 1:10 remaining in the 7-on-7 overtime and was consequently selected the game’s MVP.
Fidalgo Schioppa’s game-tying goal occurred just 56 seconds after Darien’s Kiley Liddell scored her second goal of the game to give the Blue Wave the 2-1 lead with 1:08 remaining in regulation. Tyla Ozgen scored a goal to give Staples a 1-0 lead.
In the semifinal doubleheader of the FCIAC tournament at the neutral site Fujitani Field: Staples shut out Greenwich, 3-0, and Darien advanced to the final with a 2-0 shutout over Fairfield Ludlowe.
In the FCIAC quarterfinals at the home fields of the four highest-seeded teams: top-seeded Staples beat No. 8 seed Fairfield Warde, 9-1; No. 2 Darien defeated No. 7 Norwalk, 6-0; No. 3 Fairfield Ludlowe shut out No. 6 Ridgefield, 2-0; and No. 4 Greenwich nipped No. 5 Wilton, 2-1.
Staples and Darien were seeded No. 1 and No. 2, respectively, in that Class L state tourney. Leah Larit scored two goals in the championship game to help lead Staples to its 5-2 victory. After Kiley Liddell staked Darien to a 1-0 lead in the first quarter, Leah Larit got her two goals in the second quarter. Kate Bock’s 38th goal of the year tied it up for Darien going into halftime. Alex Hackett scored the goal that gave the Wreckers the 3-2 lead midway through the third quarter and then they pulled away on goals from Emma Larit and Fidalgo Schioppa in the fourth quarter.
Darien overcame a 1-0 halftime deficit and advanced to the state championship game with a 2-1 semifinal victory over third-seeded Wilton. Brooke Liddell knocked in the game-winning goal with 5:04 remaining in the fourth quarter on an assist from her sister, Riley Liddell. Casey O’Connor scored a goal early in the second quarter to stake Wilton’s Warriors to their 1-0 lead before Sydney Johnson tied it for the Blue Wave midway through the third quarter.
That potent Staples offense was sizzling in an 11-1 semifinal victory over Fairfield Ludlowe as Emma Larit and Storey Ahl both had a hat trick and Fidalgo Schioppa scored twice. Alexandra Hackett, Daisy Hackett and Mary Stevens each had one goal for the winners. Ava Cagnassola scored Fairfield Ludlowe’s goal in the third quarter.
With their incredible scoring talent, the Wreckers scored in double digits in their quarterfinal and semifinal victories and ended up outscoring their four state tournament opponents by a 35-4 margin after that 5-2 victory in the final. That is probably the record for most goals ever scored in a Class L state tournament and it’s a record that might never be broken. The www.casciac.org website has complete brackets of the previous state tournaments from 1980-2024 and lists the state champions from 1973-2024. The previous total for most goals in a Class L state tourney was in 2013 when No. 1 seed Darien outscored its four opponents by 24-1 margin after its 3-1 victory in the final over No. 2 seed Cheshire.
As great as Staples was this year, coach Mo Minicus and her Darien Blue Wave players were so very good themselves that Staples and Darien were ranked No. 7 and No. 13, respectively, in the MAX Field Hockey 2024 High School Final National Top 25 Rankings. Out of the top 13 teams in those final national rankings, the state of Pennsylvania led the way with the top four teams and seven total, there were three teams from New Jersey, and one from Houston, Texas along with the FCIAC pair from Connecticut. Staples was dealt its only loss of the year, 3-2, on Sept. 22 to Camden Catholic from Cherry Hill, N.J. The Wreckers ended their year with a 15-game winning streak. Camden Catholic (18-3-1) was ranked 10th in that final national poll.
Darien was ranked No. 2 behind top-ranked Staples as the FCIAC had three of the top four teams in the 2024 Connecticut High School Field Hockey Final Coaches Poll. Wilton was ranked No. 4 behind Guilford, the Class M state champion.
Fairfield Ludlowe was ranked No. 8 as the fourth FCIAC team ranked among the top eight. Wilton and Ludlowe both advanced to the state Class L semifinals and finished 16-5 on the season.
Fidalgo Schioppa was named Player of the Year as the FCIAC had six of the 12 players on the 2024 GametimeCT All-State Field Hockey First Team. Fidalgo Schioppa, Emma Larit and Ozgen of Staples; Darien’s Bock and Kate Bogdan; and Greenwich’s Julia Lattuada were those FCIAC players who made the GameTimeCT All-State First Team and all six of them were also selected to the All-FCIAC First Team and Connecticut High School Coaches Association All-State Team.
Darien’s Adriana Gromelski, Fairfield Ludlowe freshman Lily McClay, New Canaan’s Cara Passios, Wilton’s Mary Sylvester, and Greenwich’s Stella Thibeault were named to the All-FCIAC First Team and GameTimeCT All-State Second Team.
Mary Stevens of Staples, Norwalk’s Kaelyn Fogelson, Fairfield Ludlowe’s Coco Biggs, Ridgefield’s Grace Winkler, Greenwich’s Kate Donnellan, and Darien’s Kiley Liddell all made All-FCIAC First Team and GameTimeCT All-State Honorable Mention. Tess Hellweg-Lyons was also one of the 18 players selected to the All-FCIAC First Team.
The 19 players selected to the All-FCIAC Second Team were Leah Larit, Alex Hackett, Catherine Cirasuolo, and Paige Knesich of Staples; Shannon Bock, Molly Fagan, and Anna Duarte of Darien; Bridget Grosso and Arden Taubin of Wilton; Catie Leddy and Eliza Severud of Fairfield Ludlowe; Rose Idone and Olivia Keating of Ridgefield; St. Joseph’s Ella Dunford; Greenwich’s Emilia Arroyo; Stamford Anne Leydon; Norwalk’s Avery Vaccaro; Brien McMahon’s Grayson Farnum; and Trumbull’s Danika Curtin.