Ridgefield Hands First Loss to Darien Girls Soccer

After a scoreless first, the Ridgefield girls soccer team notched three goals to Darien's one in the second half of Tuesday's face-off, ending the Blue Wave's unbeaten streak at six.

The 3-1 win for the Tigers left each team's season record at 6-1-1 at the midpoint of the season.

"Ridgefield was the better team today," said Wave Coach Jon Bradley. "We put too many balls in the air and never could get anything going on the ground."

Although there were no goals in the first half, Ridgefield had the better opportunities. In the second half, those better opportunities started turning into goals.

Ridgefield jumped out to a 1-0 lead when co-captain Monica Brown made a nifty cross to fellow co-captain Jaclyn Giordano, who sent the ball off her heel past Wave goaltender Charlotte Phillips. Giordano, arguably the best player on Ridgefield, is back at full strength after two ACL operations on the same knee.

The Blue Wave managed to tie the game when Georgie Highton headed one in on a cross from Phebe Wong—a picture-perfect play with picture-perfect execution.

Then came a bit of bad fortune for the Wave. On a high ball near the Darien net, Wong—caught in a crowed—headed the ball, accidentally sending backwards into the goal. It resulted in an "own goal" and a 2-1 Ridgefield lead.

"Nothing you can do about something like that. It happens in World Cup too," said Bradley.

In the seventy-first minute, Ridgefield struck again. Brown, who had set up the Tigers' first goal, assisted again on the third one with a cross to Ellie Gravitte, who buried it.

"I don't know why we were so flat in that first half, but we were," said junior Marieke Bravo.

Bradley was more direct.

"Too many of our players didn't step up today and we paid for it," Bradley said. "They [Ridgefield] are a good, strong team, and today they were better than us."

The Wave is still in first place in the FCIAC East with 19 points, followed by New Canaan (5-0-1) with 16 and Warde (4-0-2) with 14.

 Darien's next game is Thursday (4 p.m.) at home against Bridgeport Central.