By Andy Hutchison

Last year’s FCIAC and Class L State Champion Staples High field hockey team is again striving to win it all. The Wreckers will both bring back solid, experienced players and turn to newcomers as they navigate the toughest conference in the state.

The Wreckers lost some significant players to graduation, led by a trio of collegiate players. Sophia Fidalgo is now at Duke, Tyla Ozgen is at Stanford and Emma Larit is at UConn.

A good base

“It’s a loss but I think we have a very good base here to do some really good things with some exceptional players,” Coach Ian Tapsall said.

That core group includes senior captains with representation throughout the field. Attack player Mary Stevens (committed to Division I Georgetown), midfielder Catherine Cirasuolo and defender Ella Ledenko (D-III Dickinson).

Solid returning players

Protecting the goal is Paige Knesich who is backed up by Olivia Pattinson.

Other key returnees include midfielders Leah Larit (Northwestern 2021/24 D-I champs) and Emilie Russell as well as forward Daisy Hackett. Notable freshmen are forwards Ava Pattinson and Katie Larit and midfielder Olivia Lambert.

The team’s national ranking dropped from seventh to 16th. Tapsall said that is not necessarily a fair representation of how good his team is, given its challenging schedule year in and year out. The Wreckers not only tangle with tough FCIAC schools such as state and conference runner-up Darien, but also Greenwich, Wilton, and Fairfield Ludlowe. Staples also travels out of state: to the Proving Grounds in Pennsylvania to take on Kingsway Regional of Swedesboro, N.J. Sept. 20 and First Colonial High of Virginia Beach, Va. Sept 21.

Of course, it matters most in the postseason, and the Wreckers hope to improve their ranking while repeating as champions.

Tapsall said he enjoys finding a way to put the pieces of the puzzle together to get the most out of his team.

Staples had a productive preseason with some challenging scrimmages and benefitted from appearances from a trio of Dutch coaches and a Belgium player who provided insight.

Goal: state championship #7

“I think it’s looking okay,” said Tapsall, a two-time Northeast and CT Max Field Hockey Coach of the Year, whose teams have captured six state championships throughout the years.

Staples opens the regular season Wednesday, Sept. 3 at home against Greenwich at 4 p.m. Other matches to circle on the schedule include Sept. 17 at Ludlowe, Sept. 25 at Darien and Oct. 4 at home against Wilton.

Andy Hutchison

^{_{Andy Hutchison has been covering school sports — including Staples athletics — as well as news and feature stories, since the 1990s. He is the sports editor at the Newtown Bee. He writes for the Monroe Sun. He was director of communications and radio color commentator for the Bridgeport Sound Tigers (now Islanders) hockey team. He has won numerous writing awards, including regional and national first-place honors.}}