Doug Reilly
Reporter
Last Saturday, May 29, the boys lacrosse team fell one goal short of an FCIAC championship, as they lost 5-4 to the Greenwich Cardinals at Brien McMahon High School, in front of a maximum capacity crowd. The Rams almost completed a comeback for the record books, being down 5-0, but could not come through with the tying goal in the fourth quarter.
The Rams had their hands full against the Cardinals, and they knew it. “We knew they were coming off a huge win against Darien, so we knew we had to come in and play our best game to take down a good team like Greenwich,” senior captain Cody Newton said. Greenwich struck first, just three minutes into the game, when Alex Moesser scored. Later in the quarter, Eric Foote beat sophomore goalie Tom Carey, giving the Cardinals a quick 2-0 lead. Meanwhile the Rams were struggling to get a clean shot off against the stifling Greenwich defense.
With one minute remaining in the first quarter, Pete Cabrera gave Greenwich a 3-0 lead. Cabrera and Moesser both scored again early in the second quarter, and the Rams found themselves in a 5-0 deficit. However, junior Scott O’Brien gave the NCHS fans something to cheer about when he broke through for the Rams’ first goal, scoring with five minutes left in the first half. Greenwich took their 5-1 lead into the break.
Senior captain Sam Stanton felt the situation could’ve been worse. “Tom Carey, our goalie, bailed us out of the first half,” he said, “And also, Ian Knecthle and Kevin Campbell kept us out of a big deficit with good defense.”
The third quarter was a different story for the Rams. With three Cardinal defenders in intense pursuit of him, junior Joe Costigan managed to rip a shot past goalie Dan Feeney. A few minutes later, senior defenseman Ian Knecthle went coast to coast and beat Feeney, bringing the Rams within two goals of Greenwich, trailing only 5-3.
The Rams scored again when Costigan got a groundball near midfield and saw junior Henry Eschricht alone downfield. He threw him a perfect lead pass, and Eschricht brought the enormous NCHS crowd to life when he put the ball past Feeney, making it a one-goal game.
Greenwich’s defensive strategy served them well in this game, especially in the fourth quarter. The Cardinal zone packed the middle, and kept the Rams on the edges, where they struggled to get a shot off. The Rams offense struggled to even pressure Greenwich in the closing in the minutes, making unforced turnovers and being unable to win the ground ball war.
The Cardinals’ goalie, Feeney, really wasn’t pressured much, but in the final minute, he easily handled the Rams’ attempt at an equalizer, leading the way to the FCIAC championship. Despite the 5-4 loss, Cody Newton was happy about the Rams effort. “Tom Carey played an absolutely amazing second half,” he said. “Being a sophomore goalie, only starting his second game of the season, he played an outstanding game. Our defense played a great second half as well. Without them we wouldn’t have been in that game at all.”
Both Greenwich and New Canaan will move into states, with Greenwich in the class L division and the Rams in class M. According to senior Sam Stanton, the Rams have some work to do in order to be successful. “We need to do a better job of adjusting as well as executing what we know how to do; whether that be ground balls or crisp passing,” he said. “It all needs to come together for an entire 48 minutes.”
In the first round of States, the Rams beat the number 14 seed Pomperaug, 20-2 at home.
