Boys Lacrosse Runs Into Greenwich Buzzsaw

The Greenwich squad that the Ridgefield  boys lacrosse team faced last week—and again on Thursday—was not the same one the Tigers squared off against earlier in the season.

Led by the solid play of goaltender Daniel Feeney and a strong defense, Greenwich defeated Ridgefield, 11-6, to advance to the quarterfinals of the CIAC Class L state tournament against four-time defending state champion Fairfield Prep on Saturday. 

Playing their sixth straight game without attackman Kurt Mueller, the Tigers' concluded a once-promising season at 12-6.

Mueller suffered a knee injury in a 10-9 win over Wilton on May 13.

"It's no fun standing on the sidelines," said Mueller, who still finished the season as Ridgefield's assists leader and second-leading scorer.

, on April 27, but the Cardinals (12-7) might be the most improved team in the state.

After a sub-par 8-7 regular season, Greenwich , in the quarterfinals of the FCIAC playoffs en route to a surprising league championship. The Cardinals also dominated Thursday's rematch, responding every time Ridgefield tried to come back. 

"Our defense had a stick on almost every slide and gave up very few clean shots to Ridgefield," Feeney said.

With three minutes to go in the second quarter, Ridgefield closed the deficit to 5-4 on goals by Aidan Scott and Mike Galione. 

But Greenwich responded with scores of its own by Eric Foote and Steven Dodd for a three-goal margin at halftime.

The Cardinals then opened the second half with a pair of goals, extending their lead to 9-4. Ridgefield made a valiant comeback attempt, pulling with 9-6 in the fourth quarter, but the Greenwich again answered with a pair, ending Ridgefield's season.

After the game, Tigers coach Roy Colsey hugged tearful senior Aaron Mathias, who had just played his last game for Ridgefield. 

"We will have a lot of work to do next year as we are losing more than 300 goals," said Colsey, whose graduating seniors include Mueller, Galione, Mathias, Ian Vasquez and Jack Philbin.

According to Colsey, he had to change the Tigers' entire offense after Mueller went down.

"We adjusted everything we could for this game and they (Greenwich) were just better," Colsey said.

Greenwich appears to be peaking at the right time under first-year coach Scott Bulkley, a former Darien assistant.

"I would not be surprised if they went all the way, and what is scary is I think they are still getting better," Colsey added. 

Ridgefield was led on Thursday by Scott and Mathias, who each had two goals. Galione and Vasquez added one apiece.

Foote paced Greenwich with three goals, while Dodd and David Dickson both contributed two. Pete Cabrera, Daniel Noskin, Todd Stafford and Dan Farmer all chipped in with one.