Wilton Boys Lacrosse Survives Scare Against St. Joseph

Heading into Tuesday night's contest, the Wilton and St. Joseph High School boys lacrosse teams shared identical FCIAC records (6-3).

But Wilton would not be denied on Senior Night and emerged with a gutsy 7-6 victory over the Cadets, who nearly erased a three goal deficit in the final minute.

Mike Francia scored a hat trick to lead the Warriors, who have won four of their last five games to improve to 8-4 overall.

Both teams are jockeying for position in the FCIAC playoff race, entering the contest tied with Greenwich for sixth in the conference standings. The top eight finishers qualify for the FCIAC tournament.

It was all hugs and flowers before the game as the Wilton seniors were embraced by their parents and fans. 

The pre-game festivities stood in stark contrast, however, to the action on the field, as the tone was set immediately after the opening faceoff by the visiting Cadets who laid hit after bone-jarring hit on the Wilton attackers. 

The physical play by both teams led to uncharacteristic lapses in focus as emotions spilled over after the whistle.

"They are definitely a physical team," Francia said. "Games can get emotional when they are close, and it took over some of us but it was a physical game and they are a physical team."

Wilton scored the first four goals of the match and appeared to be in control of the game early.  The Warriors' response to the physical play was to score in transition. 

Francia scored twice in the second period, shooting past St. Joseph goaltender Tim Izzo after a great move to shake his defender for his first goal and capitalizing on a broken play in transition for his second.

Wilton surrendered a tough goal late in the second, though, and settled for a 4-1 lead at the intermission.

The third period was almost perfect for the Cadets, as they chipped away to trail only 5-3. Two goals by junior midfielder Pat Corcoran had the field tilting in favor of St. Joseph as the seconds ticked off in the quarter. 

Francia rescued the Warriors with a hat-trick highlight reel goal, diving across the goal mouth while shooting past Izzo with less than five seconds remaining in the third. That one goal would loom large in the later stages of the game.

After a goal by Matt Reyes and Guerra Dunn put the Warriors up,  7- 3, something awoke in the Cadets and they put together a final rally that nearly sent the game into overtime. 

A singular performance by midfielder Pat Mulligan brought the Cadets back within three.  With just over a minute to go, Mulligan fired a rocket shot from distance over the shoulder of Wilton goaltender Devyn Jeffereis for a hat trick of his own to  make it 7-5.

The final minute saw Jeffereis make furious save after save to keep his team in the game, but with 17 seconds left, St. Joseph's Lance Hunt scored on a tough angle,  and the Cadets seemed poised to complete a shocking comeback. 

St. Joseph won the ensuing faceoff but a final shot, which would have counted, was deflected away by Jefferis - one of the seniors honored before the game - amid cries of anguish from the Cadets sideline.

It was only fitting that a senior sealed the victory for Wilton.

The win was particularly sweet for Jefferies, who started in place of the injured Sam Sommers, one of the top goaltenders in the state.

"It was great, it was absolutely fantastic," Jefferies said of the Senior Night victory. "Coming out here and doing it for all my senior friends out here, playing with my boys, that's what made it special for me tonight."

The dramatic win sets the stage for a matchup against Ridgefield (10-2, 9-1 FCIAC)  on Thursday.

"We wanted to go into Thursday with a good game under our belt and play confident against Ridgefield," Francia said.