There’s no way of knowing now what will wind up happening down the line.
But if the Ridgefield Tigers do indeed wind up becoming one of Connecticut’s premier programs on a year-in, year-out basis, then mark down this date.
June 2, 2009.
No matter what happens though, it’s a date that will go down in program history. On this date tonight, in fact the Tigers beat Darien 7-6 in overtime to win the Fairfield County Interscholastic Athletic Conference championship for the first time.
“Just hearing you say that send chills down my spine,” said Ridgefield senior attackman Matt White, who scored the winning goal with 2:44 left in OT off a fastbreak feed from Matt Baker.
FCIAC, SCC and SWC (includes CIAC state tourney schedule)
During the regular season, White scored in overtime to give the Tigers another first a 8-7 win over Darien that was Ridgefield’s first against the Blue Wave since the 1984 season the year Darien launched its varsity program.
Check back for video highlights from the game and post-game interviews with the following:
Matt White
Ridgefield coach Roy Colsey
Darien senior defenseman Matt Gorski
Reach Joe Lombardi at joe@laxlessons.com.
Posted In: Fairfield lacrosse
WOW! Another great game. Time for states.
An interesting back story for you Joe: Where do you think the whole Ridgefield team went after the game last night? They went directly to senior defenseman Jon Mirra’s house to present him with his FCIAC medal and let him lift the plaque. You see Jon couldn’t make the game because he was recovering from ACL surgery he had yesterday morning. A nice ending to a great night for Ridgefield.
That was just what a championship final should be. Congrats to Ridgefield on their first FCIAC title, an accomplishment the coaches and boys will always remember.
Franklyscarlett –
Yes indeed. The Ridgefield players all gathered together shortly after accepting the FCIAC championship plaque and decided to head straight over from McMahon to Jon Mirra’s house.
Most of the players who were questionable for the game with injuries wound up playing though not nearly 100 percent. Nikki Dysenchuk, for someone at maybe 70 percent, looked tremendous, deftly dodging and running the offense and showing the ability to shoot with either hand. Colin Scott was a big question mark for Ridgefield. I had heard earlier yesterday he was feeling good and there’s no doubt that Ridgefield wouldn’t have won without him, though he too was not near 100 percent.
I think all things being equal, both Ridgefield and Darien should win state titles. Although New Fairfield will be on a mission after losing to Newtown yesterday (its first loss since ’07 postseason). There’s always the factor too of how much gas teams that had grueling conference tournaments have in the tank for states.
But make no mistake. In addition to being the FCIAC title game, last night was also the unofficial state title game since Ridgefield (L) and Darien (M), of course, are in different classes for states.
In the video interview I did with Matt Gorski of Darien after the game last night which we will be posting shortly, I asked him if he would rather win the FCIAC title or state title. He didn’t hesitant. His answer: FCIAC.
One more quick thought. Anyone who doesn’t have Darien’s John Bolton on the shortlist of top midfielders in the region should rethink that. Ditto for Brendan Walsh of Ridgefield.
Joe – Your prediction yesterday was spot on. Just about everyone thought Darien would win but you showed a lot of foresight by going with Ridgefield and describing the scenario that wound up unfolding perfectly. Short of saying Matty White would score the game winner in overtime again I’m not sure how much more you could have revealed. Great job and can’t wait to see the videos.
Lax Novice,
Not a bad bit of prognosticating from the Orange one huh?
Syr, you and Joe both had it exactly right, great job. Not that anyone, especially me, is surprised. It always worries me when you go the other way from what I am hoping will happen. I was hoping that you noticed that my nightmare scenario which I outlined yesterday came to pass, that Darien would be in big trouble if the game was close late. I feel that the key was Ridgefield not allowing the Wave any kind of shot to win in the last 30 seconds of regulation. That was huge for them. Add in the improved face-off performance and having #3 on the field and the Tigers earned a historic victory. This 2009 team has surely earned their stripes with this win.
I can’t sign off without throwing out this chestnut:
If New Fairfield had won their conference final (Congrats Newtown) and gone to the States undefeated again, and then somehow managed to get past NC, Wilton and Darien to win Class M, then assuming RHS blows through Class L as most of us expect that would have set up a juicy BCS-like argument about whether an undefeated State Champion would be considered #1 over a larger-school State Champion with one out of state loss. Alas that can’t happen now.
Syr, I’m going to find an Orange T-shirt and wear it next week, out of respect for your Kreskin-like insights, congrats!
Lord, Kreskin-like insights …
LOL.
But I’ll take it.
For those who care, Ridgefield’s road to an L championship probably will go through some of the following teams:
Simsbury, Cheshire, Fairfield Prep, Amity and Newtown
In past years I would say an FCIAC team would have to be considered a large favorite, but it’s become clearly obvious that the rest of Connecticut is improving in leaps and bounds.
At this point though, FCIAC title aside, I would think Ridgefield would be greatly disappointed if it doesn’t run the table.
Syracuse didn’t show any foresight. He started the season on Ridgefield bandwagon and stayed on it. Let’s not forget he said Ridgefield was 7-8 goals better than Darien before the first game and that was just a misinformed statement as was proven twice.
Now hold on, Wave. The fact is, after the near loss to New Canaan in the semis, a lot of people were jumping off the Ridgefield bandwagon. ‘Cuse stuck with the Tigers and they proved him right.
One more aspect of the game last night I have not yet noted. It was one of the cleanest, most well-played games I’ve seen in a while. I’d be hard-pressed to remember more than one penalty if you can believe that. In a championship game, it’s vital not to give the opponent a man-up opportunity and both teams really took that to heart.
LaxNovice – Very good point about New Fairfield. I know Newtown has a nice team, but I was very surprised by that result yesterday.
[…] For more info on the game, click here. […]
I agree with you, Joe, about Bolton and Walsh for the All-Region team. While both these kids were great players last year (All-FCIAC / All-State) they have both morphed into 2 of the entire Region’s best. Bolton actually leapfrogged over team mate Foley as Darien’s best this year.
Look for both Bolton and Walsh to be among CT’s AA selections this year.
Wave,
I think you are being a bit unfair. I wasn’t the only person who thought Ridgefield was a 7-8-goal better team than Darien back in April. I’ve also been extremely fair to Darien and its fans this entire season, touting them and rarely, if ever, playing up the negatives, which there were many at least early on.
We have fun with these predictions. They are not meant to be taken as gospel or as us trying to profess this great knowledge of the game that you don’t possess. I would have been out of my mind to stick with Ridgefield as a big favorite as the season went on and that’s because I paid attention.
You gotta understand, to analyze these games fairly, you have to make concessions 95 percent of the time. Was I nervous Ridgefield was going to lose to Darien on Tuesday? No, because I clearly stated in numerous posts that about 50 million things had to happen for Ridge to win. I actually felt they were the underdog going into that game, but I stuck with them because when you have the best player on the field you’re never out of any game.
White proved that.
If anything me staying on the bandwagon of a team that had never won an FCIAC title all season says a lot more than the numerous thousands who rode the Wave, knowing full well that Darien is, was and probably always will be the elite program in Connecticut.
Ride the Wave,
Is this the same person who posted that the FCIAC Trophy was the property of Darien Lacrosse..period? Yeah, thanks for the observation…if you are looking for the 2009 FCIAC Trophy, you’ll have to go to Ridgefield High School during school hours…please don’t touch the glass…
And yet more amazing testimony to “Ride the Wave’s” lacrosse intelligence…man, good thing you guys peak at playoff time! I’m curious, how does one actually coach his team to peak at playoff time…great stuff…it keeps me logging in!
“At Darien our teams are coached to peak at playoff time. We are. All the unwarranted Ridgefield hype now ends. Time for this fly by night one hit wonder of a program to fade to black.”
WAVE 12
BENGAL TIGERS 6
Here is the actual quote from Ride the Wave…brilliant…
“The FCIAC championship is property of Darien and no one else. Gate crashers Ridgefield will be shown the door quickly. I predict the Wave will go up 3-0 by mid point of first quarter then go into cruise control.”
In fairness though, many Ridgefield fans said/thought the very same thing going into the New Canaan game. You just never know.
Hey Wave … C’mon now. You should always show respect for other teams. That’s very dissapointing.
CT LAX,
The difference is Ridgefield actually won…let “Wave” take his medicine…
lol Keeler, ya nut. Hope you had a good time last night, your boys earned it.
I have a quick programming note, folks.
Coming tomorrow, be sure to check our an in-depth analysis of the Connecticut state tournament as wed like to welcome a new contributor to the blog.
Please be sure to meet and greet Conor. He has put together a thorough and comprehensive analysis of the CIAC tournament that starts with one game tomorrow with and most on Saturday.
You can check the CIAC schedule here:
http://laxlessons.com/blog/2009/05/title-time-lets-hear-your-fciac-scc-and-swc-picks/
Joe,
I’ll look forward to that. Hopefully he’ll divulge some biographical information, playing experience, connection to lacrosse, who he played with at Yorktown, etc. lol
Going to be a busy weekend, hang in there.
Lax Novice –
The CIAC overview is by Conor not Syracuse. As far as I know, Conor has never even set foot in Yorktown – lol. He’s a Connecticut guy all the way and will be contributing regularly henceforth on all things lax in the greater Fairfield area.
If you have any ideas for stories he can work on, be sure to e-mail him at:
conor@laxlessons.com
I love it. Conspiracies. Joe doesn’t do conspiracy and misdirection well. I, on the other hand …
Some Connecticut outbracket results for y’all…
Trumbull 18, South Windsor 13 –> Trumbull plays @ Ridgefield
Staples 12, Stamford 2 –> Staples plays @ Newtown
Masuk 12, Bacon Academy 2 –> Masuk plays @ New Fairfield
Conor,
Welcome to the best blog around, look forward to your insights on all things lax in Connecticut.