Sports
Darien Dethroned as Boys Lacrosse State Champions [Video]
The Blue Wave's six-year title reign ended Wednesday in an 11-3 loss to Wilton, which snapped a 26-game head-to-head losing streak for the Warriors.
The Wilton boys lacrosse team ended more than a decade worth of frustration against Darien on Wednesday, stunning the top-seeded Blue Wave, 11-3, to advance to the championship game of the CIAC Class M state tournament.
Wilton goalie Sam Somers was as hot as the 96-degree heat, today turning away 19 shots to halt Darien's six-year reign as state champions. The Warriors also snapped a 26-game losing streak against the Blue Wave that dated to 1999.
Playing without its leading scorer Case Matheis, who was sidelined with a torn meniscus suffered in a quarterfinal win over Fairfield Ludlowe, Darien finished the season with a 19-3 record.
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No. 5 seed Wilton (15-6) will face No. 7 New Canaan in Saturday's championship at McMahon (1 p.m.). The Rams (13-6) advanced with a 6-5 win over New Fairfield in Wednesday's other semifinal.
While Somers was holding down the fort on the defensive end, senior attackman Mike Francia was running a scoring clinic on the offensive end. Francia, who recently became the Warriors' all-time leading scorer, tallied four goals and two assists.
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Wilton scored first with 1:15 left in the first quarter after Darien had possession of for almost 80 percent of the quarter.
That seemed to swing the momentum in Wilton’s favor, as the Warriors took a 4-1 lead into haldtime, then added six straight goals to start the second half. Wilton built a commanding 10-1 cushion with 9:43 remaining in the third.
Darien added two more goals — the second by Ben Preston with 2:53 left in the game — but was little too and too late for the Blue Wave, who never got their offense going without Matheis.
