With the Sound of the Horn, Warriors Lacrosse Falls

The Rams had to score five goals in the final quarter to squeak by the Wilton Warriors boys lacrosse team in a well-played, fast-paced, and physical game that wasn't decided until the final horn.

Wilton got off fast, putting New Canaan in a 3-0 hole. Matt Kobyra, just 24 seconds in, scored off a rebound for a 1-0 Wilton lead. The Warriors were doing some serious checking on defense, using the stick check effectively, and crowding the Rams at every opportunity. It remained 1-0 until Matt Dunn scored Wilton's second goal with five and a half minutes remaining in the quarter. The Warrior's defense continued to pressure the ball and when Connor Melillo scored to make it 3-0 the Rams appeared to be in trouble.

But Joe Costigan made an outstanding "triple play" that got the Rams in the scoring column and lifted the team's confidence. Costigan hit a Warrior with a hard, clean body check that knocked the ball loose. He scooped up the ground ball and in the blink of an eye fired a pass to Henry Eschrich who sent it past Warrior's goalie Sam Sommers, making the tally 3-1 after one.

In the second quarter, Costigan, after a nice fake, shot a blur past Sommers. Oliver Norton scored the Rams' third unanswered goal, with a helper from Todd Bratches, to tie the game at 3-3.

Chris Nugent broke the tie for Wilton, and the Warriors led 4-3 at the break.

Wilton went head by two at the start of the second half when Michael Francia scored off a well-executed assist from Nugent, but Sam Stanton made it a one-goal game again. The Rams came close to tying moments later when Eschrich fired a shot that was headed for the back of the net, but Sommers came up with a spectacular save to keep the score at 5-4.

Wilton scored the next two goals, one from John Andrews and another from Michael Greco to go up 7-4. But Eschrich, with an assist from Ian Knechtle. scored with just nine seconds left in the quarter to make it 7-5 Wilton, after three.

The Rams tied it at seven early in the fourth. Cody Newton beat Sommers less than one minute in; 45 seconds later it was Newton again off what he described as "a perfect pass right on my ear".

The Warriors struck back with a goal from Dunn as they went ahead 8-7.

But the Warriors left some room for the Rams offense, and Costigan came up with another perfect pass, this time to Bratches who buried it tied the game at 8-8.

"We noticed they were sliding early so we moved our dodges to the wings which really helped. It took them longer to get to us and that opened up scoring chances," Costigan said.

That's when Eschrich took over.

"Eschrich had an awesome game. We challenged him this week and he came up huge," said Coach Alex Whitte.

He scored two in a row (the second with an assist from Stanton) to make it 10-8 Rams with four minutes left to play.

With seven seconds left Wilton threatened to overcome the Rams. Francia got one past Jimmy Joe Granito and the Warriors just needed to control the draw and score a goal to tie and force overtime. But the Warriors could do neither before the horn sounded. The Rams won, 10-9.

"We really played a good fourth quarter," Newton said. "That's what we needed along with capitalizing on scoring opportunities and we did."

The Rams improve to 8-3 (7-1 FCIAC). They host Danbury on Saturday, May 8.