Staples Girls' Lacrosse Falls to Darien

The Staples High School girls' lacrosse team ran into  buzzsaw Thursday afternoon at home against Darien, the No. 1-ranked in the state.

The Wreckers were on the short end of an 18-10 sc0re to the Blue Wave (6-0), who are averaging nearly 17 goals per game.

Darien came out of the chute quickly, scoring four goals on its first four shots in the opening 4 1/2  half minutes. 

Ann Fucigna opened the scoring less than a minute in with an assist from Cali Ceglarski. A minute later, Ellie Bullitt,  with a helper from Lanning McDonald made it 2-0.

It was 3-0,  when Paige Gasparino scored a short time later, assisted by Fucigna. Ceglarski's goal,  off a pass from Liz Calby, pushed the lead to 4-0.

Staples (4-2) got on the board when Mave Flaherty scored, then added a second goal by Adele Makey to make it a 4-2 game. The Wreckers were starting to feel good about themselves, and after Ceglarski scored her second goal to make it 5-2, they started to control play.

Staples picked up the pace and was beating defenders down field. The Wreckers were getting deep into Darien territory and scored three straight goals to tie the game.

However, Darien responded, going on a run of its own. Two successive goals by Fucigna, followed by Ceglarski again, gave the Wave an 8-5 halftime lead.

After the break, it was all Wave, as they opened the second half with an eight-goal barrage. 

Calby started the run, with the next seven goals being scored by  Ceglarski -  her fifth of the game - Ellie Bullitt, two by Gasparino, Fucigna, Calby and Emily Tropsa. 

It was 17-7 with five minutes left when Staples scored twice to make it 17-9. Wave freshman Taylor Hardison closed out the scoring for Darien. 

The Wreckers added another by Flaherty, her third of the afternoon.

Staples' next game is Saturday at home against Greenwich at 11 a.m.