Ridgefield Boys Lacrosse Wrecks Staples, Heads To Class L Championship [Video]

The  boys lacrosse team has another chance to win its first Class L state championship after defeating Staples High School 10-3 in the semifinals Wednesday at Brien McMahon High School in Norwalk.

The Tigers’ last opportunity, in 2008, ended in a tough loss to Fairfield Prep in triple overtime.

The semifinal game Wednesday evening was played in 90-plus degree weather, and each team needed to take that into consideration for strategy. Ridgefield coach Roy Colsey and Staples’ Coach Paul McNulty both commented on the weather, saying it affected the tempo of the game and forced more substitutions than usual.

But Ridgefield’s change in tempo only led to more opportunities to pick apart the Wreckers' defense.

The first half of the game was all about possession. McNulty said he would have liked to have controlled the ball more, to deny Ridgefield’s powerhouse offense: “If we have the ball, their offense doesn’t,” he said.

At the end of the first half, Ridgefield led 4-2 with goals from Matthew Hrvatin, Andrew Buckanavage, Eric Scala and William Bonaparte. Staples’ Joey Zelkowitz and Kip Orban also scored in the first half.

Ridgefield dominated possession in the third and fourth quarters with Scala scoring 30 seconds into the third and Sean Riley scoring about five seconds later. In the last minute of the third quarter, Hrvatin and Bonaparte each scored their second goals for the Tigers.

Staples went into the fourth quarter behind 8-2, and only Orban could finish for the Wreckers with eight minutes left in the game. Scala completed his hat-trick and Buckanavage scored again with no goalie in the net.

In the championship, the Tigers will face Fairfied Prep,a  7-2 winner over Simsbury . The Jesuits have defeated Ridgefield in the state tournament in each of the last three years.

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