By Andy Hutchison
Staples boys lacrosse, the No. 3 seed, marched into the Class LL State Tournament semifinals with a 10-2 win over visiting and No. 6 Greenwich on Saturday afternoon.
The Wreckers led just 3-1 at halftime before pulling away in the third quarter.
With the win Staples avenged an early-season loss to Greenwich, a setback that served as an early turning point in the campaign given the Wreckers were disappointed in that outcome.
“We’ve been talking about that game all season. That’s the game that pushed us to be good,” said Charlie Clark, who had two goals in the rematch.
Staples went on to win seven straight FCIAC battles before falling to Darien late in the slate. The Wreckers dominated behind tremendous effort and energy all over the field, Coach Will Koshansky said.
“Today’s game just meant a little extra for us because of the other outcome,” the coach added.
Adam Udell scored four times, Tristan Schaefer scored twice and Cam Prior and Hunter Pallai also found the net. Staples goaltender Josh Marcus made eight saves.
Composure during clears and battling for 50-50 balls in the middle of the field were keys to the Wreckers success on Saturday. Much of the Wreckers’ win may be attributed to preparation going into what turned out to be a bit of a mismatch.
Koshansky specifically shouted out his scout offensive group and JV call-up players who ran Greenwich’s offensive plays in practice this week. Those players are John Caggiano, JC Gura, Asher Vengrow, Trey Calabro, Tucker Lane, Cam Herold and Connor Petrosino. He credited those players with preparing the Wreckers’ starting defense for the game.
Staples next plays tomorrow against Ridgefield in the state semis at 3 p.m. at Fairfield University.
Andy Hutchison has been covering school sports — including Staples athletics — as well as news and feature stories in Fairfield County, since the 1990s.
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