A Fifth Straight Title in Its Sights, Darien Field Hockey Routs Stamford

A new season began Tuesday with the same old results for the Darien field hockey team.

After spending the first five minutes getting rid of their opening-game jitters, according to coach Mo Minicus, the Blue Wave rolled to a 9-0 victory over Stamford.

Darien goalie Perrin Brown recorded a shutout without having to make a save, as Darien outshot the Black Knights, 38-0.

"It was quite an opening day," said Darien's Leslie Gill, who had two goals and three assists. "I thought we really played well as a team and in all phases of the game."

One of Gill's goals was assisted by indentical twin Maddie.

"Being an identical twin helps because I knew where she'd be and what to look for," Leslie Gill added.

The biggest smile of the day, however, belonged to Darien freshman Hollis Perticone, who scored three goals in her first varsity appearance.

Co-captain Sam Johnston got Darien (1-0, 1-0 FCIAC) on the board just over 24 minutes in, with the assist going to Leslie Gill.

Eight minutes later, Perticone scored on her first attempt as a varsity player off a feed from co-captain Ellie Riegel.

Later in the half, Stamford goalie Katy Builes made a nice save on Leslie Gill's shot, but Perticone—showing that her first goal was no fluke—knocked in the rebound for a 3-0 lead.

The Wave scored two more goals in the next two minutes, the first by Lilly Cassidy on an assist from Perticone, who completed her hat trick with just under five minutes left in the first half to make it 5-0.

"I was very nervous when I got in,  but fortunately it all worked out," Perticone said.

Gill got her second goal to give Darien a 6-0 lead at the break. The Blue Wave had a 17-0 edge in shots at the intermission.

Johnston opened the second-half scoring,  five minutes in. The Gill twins teamed up for the next score—Leslie from Maddie—and Riegel closed out the scoring on a corner from Alex Iqbal.

"Once we got going, we did a lot of things well," Minicus said. "The passing was especially sharp and the girls were looking for each other."

Darien's next game is at Norwalk on Thursday (3:30 p.m.).