Darien Back In Familiar Spot As Class L Lacrosse Champions

NORWALK, CT – The ball was at midfield.

The second quarter’s clock was bleeding down to under the three second mark.

And No. 5 Darien boys’ lacrosse’s Sam Cragin held possession at the center of McMahon High School’s Jack Casagrande Field, with his team having allowed two unanswered goals to No. 19 Wilton.

“We were a little flat (at that point),“ Cragin said. “And (Wilton goalkeeper Andrew) Calabrese hucked it, because time was running down, and normally when you get it you just huck it right back. I noticed the goal was open, so I just went for it. It felt great.”

The junior let it fly as time expired and buried the ball into the lower left netting of the Warriors goal. It was one final haymaker from the Blue Wave before halftime, their fans erupting in cheer.

“Any time you score going into the half, it’s a big one,“ Darien head coach Jeff Brameier said. “(Wilton) had just chipped it from 8-0 to 8-2, and we answered with an end-of-the-half slam dunk. You can catch breaks that way.”

Cragin’s goal extended Darien’s lead to 9-2, and the Blue Waves were 24 minutes away from a Class L title. Heading into Saturday’s CIAC championship game, Darien was favored to bring it home, after losing the previous year to Ridgefield, 9-8. They did just that, defeating Wilton by a final score of 13-3.

“It feels amazing,” Darien senior Hudson Pokorny said. “We came into this season always trying to get to June 8 to get back to that pile. Last year we had a great season leading up to the end of it and we felt awful all summer knowing that we were almost there, but it feels awesome to be back on top.”

Darien had been the No. 1 team in the country last season. The Class L final loss to Ridgefield, and three regular season losses this year, dropped them to the No. 5 rank. But the Blue Wave still outscored their Connecticut opponents, 248-56 heading into the weekend final, and this game against the Warriors was no different.

Wilton had beaten Darien in one of the previous two meetings, in the FCIAC tournament, 4-3. The Blue Wave claimed the latter contest, 18-6. On Saturday, Darien was able to duplicate the latter outcome.

“We knew what they wanted to take away,” Pokorny said. “They did a great job scouting us to take away all of our top hands, so we switched it up, ran a couple of different offenses that maybe could give them some trouble, and we were able to execute.”

Coming out of halftime, the Blue Wave looked to put the game away after Cragin hit Wilton with his miracle shot. They were able to create a game-clinching run off the junior’s goal, compiling a 5-0 run through the third quarter, and a 5-1 run to close out the game.

Pokorny, who finished with three goals and two assists, capped off the third frame for the Blue Wave with a score with 1.8 seconds left. The senior converting his shot on goal concluded a string of three Darien goals in 33 seconds – following makes from teammates Henri Pfeifle and Matt Freeman, to make it 13-2 heading into the final quarter.

“We knew against Fairfield Prep (Wilton) was down by a decent margin and came back, so we kept the pedal down and kept going to the cage,“ Pokorny said.

The Blue Waves hit Wilton early, and the Warriors were unable to recover.

“We came out firing,” Cragin said. “We sunk our shots early and we got momentum quick. We had a great game plan … and I think we executed it to perfection. We were able to move the ball around – we didn’t rely on one guy, we relied on the team.”

Trailing 4-0 after the first quarter, Calabrese stopped a Darien shot 32 seconds into the second – and Wilton took off upfield to try and counter with a quick score.

However, the Warriors possession was swallowed up by a Blue Wave double team in front of the goal, and instead it was Darien who kept the game’s momentum.

With 7:34 remaining before halftime, Darien junior Sam Wilson took off through the gut of the Warrior defense and scored a goal falling to the ground – with the Blue Wave playing with a man-down for slashing.

Following goals from Pokorny, Cooper Hancock, and Holt Matheis, Wilton was able to put a stop to Darien’s 8-0 rally to start the game. The Warriors built a mini-run of their own, stringing together goals from Andrew Luciano at the 1:43 mark and Nicholas Kouvaris with 1:16 left.

A third Wilton shot on goal was saved by Blue Wave keeper Matthew Stein, before Cragin stopped the Warrior run with his last second shot.

“I think right after giving up those two goals they were starting to think they could get back into it, so that was a big last second momentum change that was able to turn the tides back towards us,” Pokorny said.

Brameier praised his team’s defense, which helped Darien dictate the game’s flow early.

“Our goalie, (Stein) is one of the best, he’s right there with (Calabrese), he’s a sophomore stud,” Brameier said. “He made big saves. Then, all our long-poles played tremendous lock-down defense … If you can’t win the one on one battles it’s hard to really generate offense.”

Wilton was limited to four shots in the first quarter, with only one of those shots being on-goal – which came at the opening quarter’s 5:35 mark. The Blue Wave had nine shots, six on goal, in the first 12 minutes, helping them to a 4-0 lead heading into the second quarter. Darien also went 3-for-5 in faceoffs in the first.

With a championship win after losing an undefeated campaign in the 2018 final, and losing the FCIAC to Wilton, Brameier cited that the Blue Wave understand how fortunate they are to play for a title each season.

“We talk about it all the time, every team wants to be a part of a history and part of a tradition,“ Brameier said.

As far as where the win on Saturday falls on the list of Darien’s title count, the Blue Wave’s head coach explained that it’s nice to know there’s isn’t any unfinished business, following last year’s loss to Ridgefield.

“The losses during the regular season, they’re tough losses, nobody wants to lose. But they’re preparing you for this moment,” Brameier said. “We know if you end the season on the pile, the summer’s great, the rest of the year is great … Last year … we had a pretty lousy summer even though we had a better season.

“Which one would you rather do? I’d rather do this one.”

Story reported by Vincent Gallo