Connecticut 2022

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SlingtheRock7
Posts: 23
Joined: Thu Apr 29, 2021 11:13 am

Connecticut 2022

Post by SlingtheRock7 »

Figured I'd start up this thread for the 2022 season. Despite the headaches Covid periodically caused for teams, 2021 ended up being a pretty exciting lacrosse season. Darien was dominant throughout the regular season and the FCIAC tournament but was shocked by a young Fairfield Prep team. Ridgefield was able to take home the state championship despite the majority of their key contributors being Juniors (and a stud freshman). In my opinion, this season should be an even tighter race to see who finishes on top. Here's my way too early top 10 for the state. I apologize in advance to all non-FCIAC supporters, don't know very much about those teams but I will try my best to give some limited insight on them. I think my 1-5 is pretty accurate; 6-10 is very debatable.

1) Darien: The defending FCIAC champs did lose some key contributors from the previous season (particularly on defense), including Andy Demopolous (Brown), Jamison Moore (Princeton), Holt Matheis (Georgetown), Connor Omalley, and Sam Erickson (Army). Although all key contributors, I don't believe any of these losses are truly devastating ones besides potentially Demopolous. I'm not sure who's in the goalie pipeline at Darien, but whoever hops in the cage this Spring will have large shoes to fill. Moore was a great player that could play all over the field. However, Darien's current midfield depth is abundant and can easily make up for the loss of production. Erickson will be hard to replace down low but look for Juniors Mac Maghren (Bucknell) or Grafton Ely to fill that spot and the other close-D opening left by a 2nd graduating pole. Ely is more of an LSM, but his playtime may be limited in that position with Jeremiah Stafford returning. The Air Force commit was likely the 2nd best LSM in the FCIAC last year and will take the majority of playing time there. Senior David Evanchick (Villanova) is a very solid #1 pole and will have to anchor that unit down low alongside two new starters. Omalley was an unsung contributor for last year's Darien team, and I considered him the best SSDM in the state; his loss will also be felt defensively.

Darien returns their FOGO Cummiskey (Lafayette), who will allow them to dominate possession or be competitive against the teams with better FOGO's (Staples). This team is stacked offensively though. Minicus (Loyola) and Sophomore Brady Pokorny are both impact players coming off 1st team all FCIAC years. Finn Pokorny (Harvard) and Christian Allegro (Air Force) will lead the midfield unit alongside Joe Cesare (Georgetown), who will bear a greater offensive load compared to last year. Allegro had a considerable role last season but look for the senior to break out a bit more in 2022. His size is a problem for most teams, and I expect his production to be up considerably with more reps this year. I would put Darien as the favorite in 2022, but not by a wide margin. There are questions on the defensive end and in cage, but the offensive skill and solid FOGO play give them my #1 spot. Knowing Darien, they will also have at least 2-3 players come out of nowhere to be great players this season.

2) Ridgefield: May catch some heat for putting the defending state champs at #2. This was a relatively close call, but Ridgefield's lack of true FOGO was the primary reason for placing them here under Darien. Ridgefield returns essentially every key contributor from their team last year. The only significant loss that comes to mind is 2021 2nd team all-FCIAC SSDM Owen Gaydos. Gaydos was a solid player, but Ridgefield should be able to fill that role defensively and plug a new player into the top of their zone.

This team should be even better this year, and more importantly, should be even healthier. Ridgefield was able to overcome some key injury issues throughout last year. The first that comes to mind was the loss of Kai Prokaszka (UNC) towards the middle end of the year. In my opinion, Prokaszka has the most considerable impact of any pole in the state. He keeps faceoffs respectably close while taking them from the X, is a threat in transition, causes havoc in the middle of the field, and can apply a significant degree of pressure while on defense. Ridgefield will also return 2nd team all FCIAC defenseman Wade Steffens to anchor that unit alongside junior goalie Matthew Shepard (Bucknell).

Ridgefield is stacked once again on the offensive side of the field. Look for Ryan Colsey (UVA) to have a stronger season in 2022, as the rumor was he battled through significant injuries throughout the 2021 year. Most would assume that a Virginia commit on an attack line would be the primary offensive threat for a team. However, the leading point scorer and arguably the primary initiator for the 2021 Ridgefield team was current Sophomore Kyle Colsey. Kyle is one of the top sophomores in the entire country, and it is scary to think that he will only get better after a 100+ point freshman year. The 3rd member of the attack unit, senior CJ Lauretani (Lafayette), is another solid player who gives Ridgefield 3 legitimate scoring threats from behind.

Ridgefield's attack unit is arguably the best in the state, but their midfield is similarly talented. Seniors Josiah Degrasse (Tufts) and Ethan McGerald (Quinnipiac) will play alongside Junior Luke Winkler (Lehigh). All three midfielders started last season, which means Ridgefield returns every starter on offense from their state championship season. All six starters are threats to score, and teams will have to pick their poison as to which midfielders are given short stick matchups. Winkler is coming off a 1st team all FCIAC season and should draw pole preference most games, so look for Degrasse and Mcgerald to try and take advantage of SSDM's all year. Ridgefield's offense is great at utilizing the 2-man game with attack/mids together, particularly with Kyle Colsey, and will likely force a lot of switches of SSDM's on to attackmen due to the midfield threats.

The biggest question mark for this team going into 2022 revolves around faceoffs. Prokaszka will be able to take advantage of weaker FOGO's across the state. The real tests will come against teams with talented players at the X (Staples, Darien, Wilton, Prep). They've clearly shown to be able to do this with Prokaszka there, but there will be chances for another team to dominate possessions against them.

3) Fairfield Prep: Fairfield Prep had an extremely impressive 2021 campaign, marked by a massive upset of the Blue Wave in the state tournament. They were able to continue their state playoff push up to the championship game, where they fell 8-5 against Ridgefield. Prep has two significant losses from last year. Mason Whitney (Michigan) is gone and will be contributing to a loaded Taft team in the Founder's League. Whitney was one of the best poles in the state and could cause problems for any team's #1 attackman. Prep also loses goalie Sam Cargill who is now a freshman up at Hobart. Both of those losses will be felt on the defense. On the offensive end, attackman Patrick McAleavy (Providence) and Kyle Stevenson (F&M) also departed and left holes to be filled.

Although all four of the players mentioned above were significant contributors to the team last season, the Prep team that finished as state-runner-ups was filled with underclassmen. Midfielders Marco Firmender (Penn) and Peter Grandolfo (Bucknell) will lead a team filled with returning starters and should be in the conversation throughout the year as contenders for the state title. Admittedly, I largely follow FCIAC lacrosse, so I don't know quite as much about the personnel on Prep, but their wins over Darien, Staples, and a 1-1 split with Wilton last year make it an easy decision to place them here in the #3 spot above Staples.

4) Staples: Staples is coming off one of the best seasons in program history. The 2021 campaign included two wins over New Canaan and wins over Greenwich, Cheshire, and a tough Ludlowe team. Staples split with Ridgefield, with both games decided by 1. Additionally, Staples split with Wilton, but their win came in a 16-2 beat down win in the FCIAC semi's. The team also suffered two losses to Darien and one 1 to Prep.

I don't want to go as far as saying Staples underachieved last season, as that's not really the case. However, I can't help but feel Staples could have achieved a bit more. The team did appear in the FCIAC championship but got beaten down 15-3 after playing the Blue Wave tight earlier in the year. They then fell in the 1st round of states against Ridgefield. It's ridiculous that those two teams matched up in the first round, but if Staples wins that game, there's a decent chance that they go on to win states. Coach Koshansky is doing a phenomenal job with the program, but I'm sure he feels they could have accomplished a bit more last season.

Staples returns a number of their most important players from 2021, highlighted by FOGO Henry Dodge (UVM). Dodge should continue his dominance at the X, with only a few teams potentially having counters to him at the position. Staples also returns their entire attack unit, led by 1st team All FCIAC senior attackmen Charlie Howard (BU) and complimented by both Aidan Best (Lafayette) junior Tyler Clark (Army). Howard is a great finisher and off-ball player but not a primary initiator. Best and Clark are the team's go-to threats from X and should have excellent continuity this year. Ryan Thompson will be the midfield's main initiator after his 2nd team All FCIAC junior year.

Outside of the faceoff X, I thought the strength of this Staples team was its defense last year. Staples loses a few key contributors on the defensive end despite retaining much of their offensive production. Kevin Lynch (UMass) was one of the best defensemen in the FCIAC last year and typically matched up with #1 attackmen on each team. His departure will hurt, and so will 2nd team All-FCIAC defensemen Justin Franklin's graduation. Lastly, goalie JP Kosakowski is gone, leaving a hole in net as well. Kosakowksi was up there for best goalie in the state when he was healthy last year, so Staples will have to hope someone in the pipeline can fill his shoes.

Senior Gabriel Chinitz (Bryant) is a solid player who will take the #1 close-D role for the team alongside fellow senior Nick Augeri (St. John's Fisher). Augeri is a big and physical pole but occasionally struggles against smaller/quicker players. I'll be intrigued to see how he fairs this season with increased responsibility on that end of the field.

Staples should be competitive in every game they play and Dodge likely gives them a possession advantage against any opponent. As long as the D plays at a similar level as last year, expect Staples to be competing for both potential titles at the end of the season.


5) Wilton: Wilton's best players last year were predominately all sophomores and juniors who helped lead the Warriors to the semifinals in both the FCIAC's and in State's. Wilton was a win away from competing in either of the two finals but suffered beatdown losses in both games to Staples (16-2) and Prep (14-5). The lopsided Prep result was somewhat surprising considering Wilton had won the first matchup between the two teams early in the season.

The only notable losses from the 2021 Wilton team are midfielders Josh White, Will Hughes, and attackmen Jack Rosen. White was probably the biggest contributor out of the three, but none are remotely irreplaceable.

On offense, this team will again be led by senior Army commits Ben Calabrese and Grant Masterson. Masterson is probably the best two-way player in the FCIAC and does almost everything for the Warriors. He's a competent defender and great off the wings. Masterson is a quick dodger with a great shot. He's also stronger than his stature would indicate. These two will bear the brunt of offensive responsibilities once again and will be complemented by senior midfielder Matthew Giller (F&M) and the Rath twins. The Rath twins are both short and shifty dodgers that I think will have breakout junior years after being predominately 2nd line middies during their sophomore season.

Wilton does lose some solid role players on the defensive end. This includes poles Peter Groves and Sean Sullivan, as well as SSDM Jimmy McKiernan. Senior Jake Sommer (Notre Dame) is another top 5 pole in the state and will have to deal with leading some new faces on that side of the field. Senior goalie Colin Lenskold (Utah) should help cover up mistakes early in the year as Wilton attempts to rebuild defensive continuity following the departure of some key players.

FOGO Spencer Liston is, in my opinion, the 3rd best in the FCIAC and will either control or at least be competitive for Wilton in any matchup at the X.

Wilton is a quality team that does return several vital star players. However, I do personally think there's a bit of a gap between them and the top 4. This is not to say they cannot be competitive against those teams. I just think their odds of winning either the FCIAC or states is less than the top 4, who all have a quality chance to win one of those titles.

6) Cheshire:
Cheshire is another non-FCIAC team that I don't know too much about. I did get to watch a few of their games later in the season and was impressed by them. Cheshire is a fast-paced team that causes havoc in the middle of the field with a quasi-ten man/pressure ride. They were solid on the defensive end, but this team's real strength was on offense. They were a big and well-rounded unit that played very well together. From what I can tell, they return a number of critical pieces.
Cheshire was able to beat Ludlowe in the first round of states last year 12-11 before falling to Wilton 12-8. Cheshire played Greenwich to a close 10-9 game and also competed with Staples, losing 12-9. However, last year's team really only had two quality wins, Ludlowe and Hand, who they lost to the 2nd time around in their conference tournament.

Cheshire retains a number of their best players from last year. On offense, junior attackmen Charles Kurtz (UMass) and senior Jason Raba (St. John's) are back, along with midfielder Andrew Benjamin (Providence). Additionally, sophomore Mathew Jeffrey is one of the top players in his class and should have a standout year after a relatively injury-plagued freshman season.

When watching the Ludlowe game last year, I thought the most significant difference-maker was current senior LSM Max Manware (Jacksonville). He is vital for their pressure ride and causes a ton of turnovers in the middle of the field.

Cheshire will definitely miss FOGO Aidan Gaudet (Conn College) and may have a hole at that position. Additionally, the team will lose their 2nd and 3rd leading goal scorers in Brian Bouwman (Merrimack) and Jack Lovelace. PJ Cass (Swarthmore) was another contributing offensive player who is now gone. Senior Goalie Andrew Vernon also graduated.

Cheshire does lose some offensive firepower, but they have enough returned to be a dangerous team this year. Their ranking in this position is based mainly on me believing they have a competent goalie to step into the cage. If this team doesn't adequately fill the goalie spot and does not have someone to take faceoffs, Cheshire's ranking will drop a couple of spots on this list.


7) Greenwich: I thought Bobby Lutz did an incredible job with his Greenwich team last season. They rebounded from an abysmal 2019 season to have a respectable 2021 year. This team was able to overcome early-season adversity brought about through Covid to win some big games and compete in several others. The 15-13 win over Ridgefield, 10-9 win over Cheshire, and 14-5 win over Ludlowe were impressive results. I know Ludlowe has not historically been a big win, but outside of Darien, Greenwich was the only team to really beat down the Falcons last season. The only lopsided results against Greenwich results were the 20-6 blowout loss at Darien and the 8-2 loss to Ridgefield in FCIAC's. Their season ended with a 10-9 heartbreaker against Prep.

Greenwich does lose a good portion of its key contributors from 2021. The first name that stands out as a significant loss is 1st team All FCIAC midfielder Will Montesi. Montesi is currently playing football at Army but was a massive matchup problem for teams due to his sheer size. 1st team All FCIAC defender Chris Cataldo is also gone now. Greenwich will need to fill the spots of attackman John Cataldo, defender James O'Malley, Midfielder Jack Cook, and SSDM Hank Minchin, all of whom received FCIAC honors.

2nd team All FCIAC attackman Bryce Metalios and Junior Brian Collins will have a great deal of increased offensive responsibility for the Cardinals this year along with midfielder James Pilc.

Defensively, junior Matt Trimmer (Providence) and senior Roy Knutson will be key contributors in front of a returning goalie. FOGO Quinn Warrick is also back, who should be competing for that 3rd best FCIAC FOGO position this season.

If Cheshire doesn't find a good FOGO, Greenwich will quickly hop them in this ranking. I give them this seven spot despite having beat Cheshire last season because I think they lose a bit more key contributors than the Rams. Losing Montesi will hurt, as will losing arguably the team's two best poles. I think Greenwich will still be competitive this year, but I don't see them cracking the top 5. In my opinion, spot six should be this team's ceiling for the 2022 season.

8) Ludlowe: Ludlowe is coming off one of its most competitive seasons in program history. I'm sure there are previous seasons where they had a better record or went farther in either the FCIACs or States. However, it's difficult to remember a season where they were quite as competitive against the traditional powerhouses as 2021. The marquee victories for Ludlowe were a dominant 16-7 victory over St. Joe's and, of course, the 8-7 2OT win over New Canaan in States. Additionally, Ludlowe had a one-goal loss to Wilton, a two-goal loss to Ridgefield, played Staples tight in both games, and lost to Cheshire by 1. The only real blowout losses they suffered were against Darien and, surprisingly, Greenwich.

At first glance, Ludlowe doesn't lose much. Senior Jake Fratarcangelli (Desales) was a 2nd team All FCIAC attackman who was the clear #1 from behind the cage. Although a solid attackman, I was surprised he was the lone 1st/2nd team player for Ludlowe, considering he was probably the 3rd best overall initiator on offense. Declan Kuhn (Conn College) will be a big loss for this team, as he frequently matched up on opposing teams' #1 or #2 attackmen. However, the most significant loss for Ludlowe will be FOGO Brooks Klyver (Dickinson). Klyver was right up there for 3rd best FOGO in the FCIAC last year behind Dodge and Cummiskey. Ludlowe was rarely ever dominated possession-wise, with the only exception probably being Staples the 2nd time around.

Despite some key losses, Ludlowe retains most of their best players. Seniors Liam Keeser (Sacred Heart) and Colin McCarthy (Kenyon) were the best offensive players for this team last year and will look to build off their success from last season. Keeser's size makes him a matchup problem for almost anybody in the conference. McCarthy compliments him very well and has shown to cause problems whenever guarded by a short stick. No clue how neither of them made one of the top 2 FCIAC teams last season. Cooper Carr (RPI) is a solid attackman who predominately thrives off the ball. Ludlowe did have trouble when they were double-poled in the midfield last year, and I expect teams to do more of the same this year. Carr is a good attackman but don't expect him to win a 1v1 against some of the #1 poles in the state. The key to this team on offense will be sophomore John Kleinbeck. Kleinbeck was a key starter last year who gained confidence as the year progressed. If he can consistently beat shorties out of the midfield this year, Ludlowe should score despite a seemingly lackluster attack unit. No clue who the Falcons will plug in at attack next to Carr.

Ludlowe does graduate a few other poles from last year but returns three, led by seniors Finn Hoey (Sacred Heart) and Luke Lesizza (Stevens Tech). I thought Lesizza was one of the better cover guys in the FCIAC last year. Despite a short stature, he's a physical player who Ludlowe will lean on to guard top offensive threats this year. Hoey is great off the ground and is a constant threat to push the ball in transition. Goalie Muphy Hoey returns in the cage and should provide solid play again this year. One of the strengths of this team when watching them last season was their D-mids. When they were rested this team was hard to score on. However, I anticipate Ludlowe will struggle again this year from a lack of depth. I'm curious to see whether Coach Swett in his 2nd year takes a bit larger of a roster to try and add some depth, although the roster decision might just be a result of a limited pipeline of players to pull from.

If this team has a FOGO that can compete this year, look for them to continue to play some of the top dogs competitively. If they don't have anyone in that spot that can at least keep it 50/50 at the X then I'd expect a drop-off in performance compared to last season.

9) New Canaan: It May have been a bit of recency bias to put New Canaan below Ludlowe, but this team does graduate more starters than any other FCIAC team. On offense, star midfielders Chris Canet (Penn0 and Ryan Caione (Bucknell) are gone. Additionally, starters Callum Wood (Tufts), Nick Stiles (MIT), and Harry Appelt (Williams) are gone. On defense, poles Charlie Borthwick (Swarthmore), Braden Sweeney, and Christian Wolter (Ohio Wesleyan) graduate along with FOGO Hayden Shin (Trinity).

Sophomore defensemen Dylan Steffens and Junior attackman Tommy Augustine are the best players returning on this team. Senior midfielders Michael Norton (Bowdoin) and Carter Connors (F&M) are also solid players, while goalie Holden Busby returns in cage. New Canaan has many holes to fill from a team that finished with four straight losses to end the season, including a 2OT loss to Wilton in the 1st round of FCIAC's and a 2OT loss to Ludlowe in the play-in round of States.

I'm sure there are a number of promising players coming in through the pipeline for New Canaan that will allow them to be competitive, but I just don't see how they can compete with some of the top teams next year. This team's primary form of offensive initiation came almost strictly from Canet and Caione out of the midfield. Wood was a solid complimentary player who was a threat from re-dodges and could occasionally beat a defender top side for goals. Stiles was a similar type of player but a lefty.

Augustine will likely have to carry a lot of the load this season, but I'm unfortunately not convinced he'll be able to consistently win matchups against #1 cover guys from better teams. Norton and Connors may grow as players this season with more offensive opportunities and a longer leash to make mistakes, but neither of them consistently won 1v1 matchups last year, and I'm not optimistic that we'll see a change in that. Instead of drawing a 2nd D-mid, these guys will be getting pole preference and top D-mids matched up against them, matchups that I don't think are too favorable for them.

Defensively, Dylan Steffens can match any top attackman in the state and is probably one of the best defensive prospects in the country for the sophomore class. Him and senior Nick Garcia (W&L) will have to lead D in front of Holden Busby but should be at least a solid unit. The loss of Shin at the X leaves a vacancy there, but New Canaan seems to churn out a new competent FOGO year after year, so I'm sure there's someone in the pipeline ready to fill in.

Overall, New Canaan's major questions lie on the offensive side of the ball. If they can find some primary initiators outside of Augustine, New Canaan will be able to hop a few teams above them in this ranking (Ludlowe, Greenwich). However, I think they are far from the top 4 and probably a decent amount worse than Wilton/Cheshire. If they can't find any offensive firepower and there doesn't happen to be a FOGO in the pipeline, this could be one of New Canaan's biggest down years in recent memory.

10) Daniel Hand: Daniel Hand could potentially be higher on this list, but I really don't know anything about who this team has returning next year. They had a solid win over Ludlowe at the start of the season, granted that Ludlowe team was without several players, and a big win over Cheshire. Later in the year, I'd imagine Hand could be either 8 or 9 but wouldn't see them above the eight position. The drop-off from these ten spots is considerable compared to some of the other teams in the state that I at least know of. The rest of the FCIAC will be weak this season, so I think Hand should slot into the top 10. Where they definitively belong though may be better answered by someone else.

Others:

St Joe's: St Joe's loses essentially every key player from last season. 2nd team All FCIAC players Preston Kral (Stony Brook) and Jack Fearnly (Binghamton) graduate, as does attackman Erick Burbank (York) and goalie Max Kimmel (Roger Williams). The only real bright spot for this team is that FOGO Jack Kilmartin is back, who was solid in that role last year.

Kral and Burbank were the driving forces of that offense, and without them, I just don't see how this team competes with the FCIAC teams I've placed in the top 10.

Trumbull: Trumbull was heavily reliant on 2nd team all FCIAC attackman Julian Kammerman (Roanoke) last season. Midfielders Ethan Hughes and Shea Grant were also talented and physical dodgers that could get Trumbull goals. All three of these players are now gone, and there isn't a lot in the pipeline that I know of to fill the lost scoring abilities. Trumbull may finish with a similar record to last season but won't be competitive with the top 10.

Warde: Jack Mckenna (Fairfield) and Zach Corsi (St. Lawrence) were the heart and soul of this Warde team last season. McKenna was arguably the most dominant offensive player in the FCIAC, while Corsi finished the year with 2nd team All FCIAC honors. Both of them have now graduated alongside FOGO Andrew Buck (Haverford) and a number of other contributing players. Warde will have the biggest drop-off of any of the teams I've mentioned after a solid 2021 season. This team will struggle at the faceoff X, struggle to score goals, and lack a decent amount of defensive cohesion after graduating a few key starters.
Can Opener
Posts: 922
Joined: Wed Aug 29, 2018 1:21 pm

Re: Connecticut 2022

Post by Can Opener »

SlingtheRock7 wrote: Sun Dec 19, 2021 2:41 am Figured I'd start up this thread for the 2022 season. Despite the headaches Covid periodically caused for teams, 2021 ended up being a pretty exciting lacrosse season. Darien was dominant throughout the regular season and the FCIAC tournament but was shocked by a young Fairfield Prep team. Ridgefield was able to take home the state championship despite the majority of their key contributors being Juniors (and a stud freshman). In my opinion, this season should be an even tighter race to see who finishes on top. Here's my way too early top 10 for the state. I apologize in advance to all non-FCIAC supporters, don't know very much about those teams but I will try my best to give some limited insight on them. I think my 1-5 is pretty accurate; 6-10 is very debatable.

1) Darien: The defending FCIAC champs did lose some key contributors from the previous season (particularly on defense), including Andy Demopolous (Brown), Jamison Moore (Princeton), Holt Matheis (Georgetown), Connor Omalley, and Sam Erickson (Army). Although all key contributors, I don't believe any of these losses are truly devastating ones besides potentially Demopolous. I'm not sure who's in the goalie pipeline at Darien, but whoever hops in the cage this Spring will have large shoes to fill. Moore was a great player that could play all over the field. However, Darien's current midfield depth is abundant and can easily make up for the loss of production. Erickson will be hard to replace down low but look for Juniors Mac Maghren (Bucknell) or Grafton Ely to fill that spot and the other close-D opening left by a 2nd graduating pole. Ely is more of an LSM, but his playtime may be limited in that position with Jeremiah Stafford returning. The Air Force commit was likely the 2nd best LSM in the FCIAC last year and will take the majority of playing time there. Senior David Evanchick (Villanova) is a very solid #1 pole and will have to anchor that unit down low alongside two new starters. Omalley was an unsung contributor for last year's Darien team, and I considered him the best SSDM in the state; his loss will also be felt defensively.

Darien returns their FOGO Cummiskey (Lafayette), who will allow them to dominate possession or be competitive against the teams with better FOGO's (Staples). This team is stacked offensively though. Minicus (Loyola) and Sophomore Brady Pokorny are both impact players coming off 1st team all FCIAC years. Finn Pokorny (Harvard) and Christian Allegro (Air Force) will lead the midfield unit alongside Joe Cesare (Georgetown), who will bear a greater offensive load compared to last year. Allegro had a considerable role last season but look for the senior to break out a bit more in 2022. His size is a problem for most teams, and I expect his production to be up considerably with more reps this year. I would put Darien as the favorite in 2022, but not by a wide margin. There are questions on the defensive end and in cage, but the offensive skill and solid FOGO play give them my #1 spot. Knowing Darien, they will also have at least 2-3 players come out of nowhere to be great players this season.

2) Ridgefield: May catch some heat for putting the defending state champs at #2. This was a relatively close call, but Ridgefield's lack of true FOGO was the primary reason for placing them here under Darien. Ridgefield returns essentially every key contributor from their team last year. The only significant loss that comes to mind is 2021 2nd team all-FCIAC SSDM Owen Gaydos. Gaydos was a solid player, but Ridgefield should be able to fill that role defensively and plug a new player into the top of their zone.

This team should be even better this year, and more importantly, should be even healthier. Ridgefield was able to overcome some key injury issues throughout last year. The first that comes to mind was the loss of Kai Prokaszka (UNC) towards the middle end of the year. In my opinion, Prokaszka has the most considerable impact of any pole in the state. He keeps faceoffs respectably close while taking them from the X, is a threat in transition, causes havoc in the middle of the field, and can apply a significant degree of pressure while on defense. Ridgefield will also return 2nd team all FCIAC defenseman Wade Steffens to anchor that unit alongside junior goalie Matthew Shepard (Bucknell).

Ridgefield is stacked once again on the offensive side of the field. Look for Ryan Colsey (UVA) to have a stronger season in 2022, as the rumor was he battled through significant injuries throughout the 2021 year. Most would assume that a Virginia commit on an attack line would be the primary offensive threat for a team. However, the leading point scorer and arguably the primary initiator for the 2021 Ridgefield team was current Sophomore Kyle Colsey. Kyle is one of the top sophomores in the entire country, and it is scary to think that he will only get better after a 100+ point freshman year. The 3rd member of the attack unit, senior CJ Lauretani (Lafayette), is another solid player who gives Ridgefield 3 legitimate scoring threats from behind.

Ridgefield's attack unit is arguably the best in the state, but their midfield is similarly talented. Seniors Josiah Degrasse (Tufts) and Ethan McGerald (Quinnipiac) will play alongside Junior Luke Winkler (Lehigh). All three midfielders started last season, which means Ridgefield returns every starter on offense from their state championship season. All six starters are threats to score, and teams will have to pick their poison as to which midfielders are given short stick matchups. Winkler is coming off a 1st team all FCIAC season and should draw pole preference most games, so look for Degrasse and Mcgerald to try and take advantage of SSDM's all year. Ridgefield's offense is great at utilizing the 2-man game with attack/mids together, particularly with Kyle Colsey, and will likely force a lot of switches of SSDM's on to attackmen due to the midfield threats.

The biggest question mark for this team going into 2022 revolves around faceoffs. Prokaszka will be able to take advantage of weaker FOGO's across the state. The real tests will come against teams with talented players at the X (Staples, Darien, Wilton, Prep). They've clearly shown to be able to do this with Prokaszka there, but there will be chances for another team to dominate possessions against them.

3) Fairfield Prep: Fairfield Prep had an extremely impressive 2021 campaign, marked by a massive upset of the Blue Wave in the state tournament. They were able to continue their state playoff push up to the championship game, where they fell 8-5 against Ridgefield. Prep has two significant losses from last year. Mason Whitney (Michigan) is gone and will be contributing to a loaded Taft team in the Founder's League. Whitney was one of the best poles in the state and could cause problems for any team's #1 attackman. Prep also loses goalie Sam Cargill who is now a freshman up at Hobart. Both of those losses will be felt on the defense. On the offensive end, attackman Patrick McAleavy (Providence) and Kyle Stevenson (F&M) also departed and left holes to be filled.

Although all four of the players mentioned above were significant contributors to the team last season, the Prep team that finished as state-runner-ups was filled with underclassmen. Midfielders Marco Firmender (Penn) and Peter Grandolfo (Bucknell) will lead a team filled with returning starters and should be in the conversation throughout the year as contenders for the state title. Admittedly, I largely follow FCIAC lacrosse, so I don't know quite as much about the personnel on Prep, but their wins over Darien, Staples, and a 1-1 split with Wilton last year make it an easy decision to place them here in the #3 spot above Staples.

4) Staples: Staples is coming off one of the best seasons in program history. The 2021 campaign included two wins over New Canaan and wins over Greenwich, Cheshire, and a tough Ludlowe team. Staples split with Ridgefield, with both games decided by 1. Additionally, Staples split with Wilton, but their win came in a 16-2 beat down win in the FCIAC semi's. The team also suffered two losses to Darien and one 1 to Prep.

I don't want to go as far as saying Staples underachieved last season, as that's not really the case. However, I can't help but feel Staples could have achieved a bit more. The team did appear in the FCIAC championship but got beaten down 15-3 after playing the Blue Wave tight earlier in the year. They then fell in the 1st round of states against Ridgefield. It's ridiculous that those two teams matched up in the first round, but if Staples wins that game, there's a decent chance that they go on to win states. Coach Koshansky is doing a phenomenal job with the program, but I'm sure he feels they could have accomplished a bit more last season.

Staples returns a number of their most important players from 2021, highlighted by FOGO Henry Dodge (UVM). Dodge should continue his dominance at the X, with only a few teams potentially having counters to him at the position. Staples also returns their entire attack unit, led by 1st team All FCIAC senior attackmen Charlie Howard (BU) and complimented by both Aidan Best (Lafayette) junior Tyler Clark (Army). Howard is a great finisher and off-ball player but not a primary initiator. Best and Clark are the team's go-to threats from X and should have excellent continuity this year. Ryan Thompson will be the midfield's main initiator after his 2nd team All FCIAC junior year.

Outside of the faceoff X, I thought the strength of this Staples team was its defense last year. Staples loses a few key contributors on the defensive end despite retaining much of their offensive production. Kevin Lynch (UMass) was one of the best defensemen in the FCIAC last year and typically matched up with #1 attackmen on each team. His departure will hurt, and so will 2nd team All-FCIAC defensemen Justin Franklin's graduation. Lastly, goalie JP Kosakowski is gone, leaving a hole in net as well. Kosakowksi was up there for best goalie in the state when he was healthy last year, so Staples will have to hope someone in the pipeline can fill his shoes.

Senior Gabriel Chinitz (Bryant) is a solid player who will take the #1 close-D role for the team alongside fellow senior Nick Augeri (St. John's Fisher). Augeri is a big and physical pole but occasionally struggles against smaller/quicker players. I'll be intrigued to see how he fairs this season with increased responsibility on that end of the field.

Staples should be competitive in every game they play and Dodge likely gives them a possession advantage against any opponent. As long as the D plays at a similar level as last year, expect Staples to be competing for both potential titles at the end of the season.


5) Wilton: Wilton's best players last year were predominately all sophomores and juniors who helped lead the Warriors to the semifinals in both the FCIAC's and in State's. Wilton was a win away from competing in either of the two finals but suffered beatdown losses in both games to Staples (16-2) and Prep (14-5). The lopsided Prep result was somewhat surprising considering Wilton had won the first matchup between the two teams early in the season.

The only notable losses from the 2021 Wilton team are midfielders Josh White, Will Hughes, and attackmen Jack Rosen. White was probably the biggest contributor out of the three, but none are remotely irreplaceable.

On offense, this team will again be led by senior Army commits Ben Calabrese and Grant Masterson. Masterson is probably the best two-way player in the FCIAC and does almost everything for the Warriors. He's a competent defender and great off the wings. Masterson is a quick dodger with a great shot. He's also stronger than his stature would indicate. These two will bear the brunt of offensive responsibilities once again and will be complemented by senior midfielder Matthew Giller (F&M) and the Rath twins. The Rath twins are both short and shifty dodgers that I think will have breakout junior years after being predominately 2nd line middies during their sophomore season.

Wilton does lose some solid role players on the defensive end. This includes poles Peter Groves and Sean Sullivan, as well as SSDM Jimmy McKiernan. Senior Jake Sommer (Notre Dame) is another top 5 pole in the state and will have to deal with leading some new faces on that side of the field. Senior goalie Colin Lenskold (Utah) should help cover up mistakes early in the year as Wilton attempts to rebuild defensive continuity following the departure of some key players.

FOGO Spencer Liston is, in my opinion, the 3rd best in the FCIAC and will either control or at least be competitive for Wilton in any matchup at the X.

Wilton is a quality team that does return several vital star players. However, I do personally think there's a bit of a gap between them and the top 4. This is not to say they cannot be competitive against those teams. I just think their odds of winning either the FCIAC or states is less than the top 4, who all have a quality chance to win one of those titles.

6) Cheshire:
Cheshire is another non-FCIAC team that I don't know too much about. I did get to watch a few of their games later in the season and was impressed by them. Cheshire is a fast-paced team that causes havoc in the middle of the field with a quasi-ten man/pressure ride. They were solid on the defensive end, but this team's real strength was on offense. They were a big and well-rounded unit that played very well together. From what I can tell, they return a number of critical pieces.
Cheshire was able to beat Ludlowe in the first round of states last year 12-11 before falling to Wilton 12-8. Cheshire played Greenwich to a close 10-9 game and also competed with Staples, losing 12-9. However, last year's team really only had two quality wins, Ludlowe and Hand, who they lost to the 2nd time around in their conference tournament.

Cheshire retains a number of their best players from last year. On offense, junior attackmen Charles Kurtz (UMass) and senior Jason Raba (St. John's) are back, along with midfielder Andrew Benjamin (Providence). Additionally, sophomore Mathew Jeffrey is one of the top players in his class and should have a standout year after a relatively injury-plagued freshman season.

When watching the Ludlowe game last year, I thought the most significant difference-maker was current senior LSM Max Manware (Jacksonville). He is vital for their pressure ride and causes a ton of turnovers in the middle of the field.

Cheshire will definitely miss FOGO Aidan Gaudet (Conn College) and may have a hole at that position. Additionally, the team will lose their 2nd and 3rd leading goal scorers in Brian Bouwman (Merrimack) and Jack Lovelace. PJ Cass (Swarthmore) was another contributing offensive player who is now gone. Senior Goalie Andrew Vernon also graduated.

Cheshire does lose some offensive firepower, but they have enough returned to be a dangerous team this year. Their ranking in this position is based mainly on me believing they have a competent goalie to step into the cage. If this team doesn't adequately fill the goalie spot and does not have someone to take faceoffs, Cheshire's ranking will drop a couple of spots on this list.


7) Greenwich: I thought Bobby Lutz did an incredible job with his Greenwich team last season. They rebounded from an abysmal 2019 season to have a respectable 2021 year. This team was able to overcome early-season adversity brought about through Covid to win some big games and compete in several others. The 15-13 win over Ridgefield, 10-9 win over Cheshire, and 14-5 win over Ludlowe were impressive results. I know Ludlowe has not historically been a big win, but outside of Darien, Greenwich was the only team to really beat down the Falcons last season. The only lopsided results against Greenwich results were the 20-6 blowout loss at Darien and the 8-2 loss to Ridgefield in FCIAC's. Their season ended with a 10-9 heartbreaker against Prep.

Greenwich does lose a good portion of its key contributors from 2021. The first name that stands out as a significant loss is 1st team All FCIAC midfielder Will Montesi. Montesi is currently playing football at Army but was a massive matchup problem for teams due to his sheer size. 1st team All FCIAC defender Chris Cataldo is also gone now. Greenwich will need to fill the spots of attackman John Cataldo, defender James O'Malley, Midfielder Jack Cook, and SSDM Hank Minchin, all of whom received FCIAC honors.

2nd team All FCIAC attackman Bryce Metalios and Junior Brian Collins will have a great deal of increased offensive responsibility for the Cardinals this year along with midfielder James Pilc.

Defensively, junior Matt Trimmer (Providence) and senior Roy Knutson will be key contributors in front of a returning goalie. FOGO Quinn Warrick is also back, who should be competing for that 3rd best FCIAC FOGO position this season.

If Cheshire doesn't find a good FOGO, Greenwich will quickly hop them in this ranking. I give them this seven spot despite having beat Cheshire last season because I think they lose a bit more key contributors than the Rams. Losing Montesi will hurt, as will losing arguably the team's two best poles. I think Greenwich will still be competitive this year, but I don't see them cracking the top 5. In my opinion, spot six should be this team's ceiling for the 2022 season.

8) Ludlowe: Ludlowe is coming off one of its most competitive seasons in program history. I'm sure there are previous seasons where they had a better record or went farther in either the FCIACs or States. However, it's difficult to remember a season where they were quite as competitive against the traditional powerhouses as 2021. The marquee victories for Ludlowe were a dominant 16-7 victory over St. Joe's and, of course, the 8-7 2OT win over New Canaan in States. Additionally, Ludlowe had a one-goal loss to Wilton, a two-goal loss to Ridgefield, played Staples tight in both games, and lost to Cheshire by 1. The only real blowout losses they suffered were against Darien and, surprisingly, Greenwich.

At first glance, Ludlowe doesn't lose much. Senior Jake Fratarcangelli (Desales) was a 2nd team All FCIAC attackman who was the clear #1 from behind the cage. Although a solid attackman, I was surprised he was the lone 1st/2nd team player for Ludlowe, considering he was probably the 3rd best overall initiator on offense. Declan Kuhn (Conn College) will be a big loss for this team, as he frequently matched up on opposing teams' #1 or #2 attackmen. However, the most significant loss for Ludlowe will be FOGO Brooks Klyver (Dickinson). Klyver was right up there for 3rd best FOGO in the FCIAC last year behind Dodge and Cummiskey. Ludlowe was rarely ever dominated possession-wise, with the only exception probably being Staples the 2nd time around.

Despite some key losses, Ludlowe retains most of their best players. Seniors Liam Keeser (Sacred Heart) and Colin McCarthy (Kenyon) were the best offensive players for this team last year and will look to build off their success from last season. Keeser's size makes him a matchup problem for almost anybody in the conference. McCarthy compliments him very well and has shown to cause problems whenever guarded by a short stick. No clue how neither of them made one of the top 2 FCIAC teams last season. Cooper Carr (RPI) is a solid attackman who predominately thrives off the ball. Ludlowe did have trouble when they were double-poled in the midfield last year, and I expect teams to do more of the same this year. Carr is a good attackman but don't expect him to win a 1v1 against some of the #1 poles in the state. The key to this team on offense will be sophomore John Kleinbeck. Kleinbeck was a key starter last year who gained confidence as the year progressed. If he can consistently beat shorties out of the midfield this year, Ludlowe should score despite a seemingly lackluster attack unit. No clue who the Falcons will plug in at attack next to Carr.

Ludlowe does graduate a few other poles from last year but returns three, led by seniors Finn Hoey (Sacred Heart) and Luke Lesizza (Stevens Tech). I thought Lesizza was one of the better cover guys in the FCIAC last year. Despite a short stature, he's a physical player who Ludlowe will lean on to guard top offensive threats this year. Hoey is great off the ground and is a constant threat to push the ball in transition. Goalie Muphy Hoey returns in the cage and should provide solid play again this year. One of the strengths of this team when watching them last season was their D-mids. When they were rested this team was hard to score on. However, I anticipate Ludlowe will struggle again this year from a lack of depth. I'm curious to see whether Coach Swett in his 2nd year takes a bit larger of a roster to try and add some depth, although the roster decision might just be a result of a limited pipeline of players to pull from.

If this team has a FOGO that can compete this year, look for them to continue to play some of the top dogs competitively. If they don't have anyone in that spot that can at least keep it 50/50 at the X then I'd expect a drop-off in performance compared to last season.

9) New Canaan: It May have been a bit of recency bias to put New Canaan below Ludlowe, but this team does graduate more starters than any other FCIAC team. On offense, star midfielders Chris Canet (Penn0 and Ryan Caione (Bucknell) are gone. Additionally, starters Callum Wood (Tufts), Nick Stiles (MIT), and Harry Appelt (Williams) are gone. On defense, poles Charlie Borthwick (Swarthmore), Braden Sweeney, and Christian Wolter (Ohio Wesleyan) graduate along with FOGO Hayden Shin (Trinity).

Sophomore defensemen Dylan Steffens and Junior attackman Tommy Augustine are the best players returning on this team. Senior midfielders Michael Norton (Bowdoin) and Carter Connors (F&M) are also solid players, while goalie Holden Busby returns in cage. New Canaan has many holes to fill from a team that finished with four straight losses to end the season, including a 2OT loss to Wilton in the 1st round of FCIAC's and a 2OT loss to Ludlowe in the play-in round of States.

I'm sure there are a number of promising players coming in through the pipeline for New Canaan that will allow them to be competitive, but I just don't see how they can compete with some of the top teams next year. This team's primary form of offensive initiation came almost strictly from Canet and Caione out of the midfield. Wood was a solid complimentary player who was a threat from re-dodges and could occasionally beat a defender top side for goals. Stiles was a similar type of player but a lefty.

Augustine will likely have to carry a lot of the load this season, but I'm unfortunately not convinced he'll be able to consistently win matchups against #1 cover guys from better teams. Norton and Connors may grow as players this season with more offensive opportunities and a longer leash to make mistakes, but neither of them consistently won 1v1 matchups last year, and I'm not optimistic that we'll see a change in that. Instead of drawing a 2nd D-mid, these guys will be getting pole preference and top D-mids matched up against them, matchups that I don't think are too favorable for them.

Defensively, Dylan Steffens can match any top attackman in the state and is probably one of the best defensive prospects in the country for the sophomore class. Him and senior Nick Garcia (W&L) will have to lead D in front of Holden Busby but should be at least a solid unit. The loss of Shin at the X leaves a vacancy there, but New Canaan seems to churn out a new competent FOGO year after year, so I'm sure there's someone in the pipeline ready to fill in.

Overall, New Canaan's major questions lie on the offensive side of the ball. If they can find some primary initiators outside of Augustine, New Canaan will be able to hop a few teams above them in this ranking (Ludlowe, Greenwich). However, I think they are far from the top 4 and probably a decent amount worse than Wilton/Cheshire. If they can't find any offensive firepower and there doesn't happen to be a FOGO in the pipeline, this could be one of New Canaan's biggest down years in recent memory.

10) Daniel Hand: Daniel Hand could potentially be higher on this list, but I really don't know anything about who this team has returning next year. They had a solid win over Ludlowe at the start of the season, granted that Ludlowe team was without several players, and a big win over Cheshire. Later in the year, I'd imagine Hand could be either 8 or 9 but wouldn't see them above the eight position. The drop-off from these ten spots is considerable compared to some of the other teams in the state that I at least know of. The rest of the FCIAC will be weak this season, so I think Hand should slot into the top 10. Where they definitively belong though may be better answered by someone else.

Others:

St Joe's: St Joe's loses essentially every key player from last season. 2nd team All FCIAC players Preston Kral (Stony Brook) and Jack Fearnly (Binghamton) graduate, as does attackman Erick Burbank (York) and goalie Max Kimmel (Roger Williams). The only real bright spot for this team is that FOGO Jack Kilmartin is back, who was solid in that role last year.

Kral and Burbank were the driving forces of that offense, and without them, I just don't see how this team competes with the FCIAC teams I've placed in the top 10.

Trumbull: Trumbull was heavily reliant on 2nd team all FCIAC attackman Julian Kammerman (Roanoke) last season. Midfielders Ethan Hughes and Shea Grant were also talented and physical dodgers that could get Trumbull goals. All three of these players are now gone, and there isn't a lot in the pipeline that I know of to fill the lost scoring abilities. Trumbull may finish with a similar record to last season but won't be competitive with the top 10.

Warde: Jack Mckenna (Fairfield) and Zach Corsi (St. Lawrence) were the heart and soul of this Warde team last season. McKenna was arguably the most dominant offensive player in the FCIAC, while Corsi finished the year with 2nd team All FCIAC honors. Both of them have now graduated alongside FOGO Andrew Buck (Haverford) and a number of other contributing players. Warde will have the biggest drop-off of any of the teams I've mentioned after a solid 2021 season. This team will struggle at the faceoff X, struggle to score goals, and lack a decent amount of defensive cohesion after graduating a few key starters.
High quality stuff. Thank you!
JBFortunato
Posts: 279
Joined: Tue Jan 01, 2019 7:38 pm

Re: Connecticut 2022

Post by JBFortunato »

SlingtheRock7 wrote: Sun Dec 19, 2021 2:41 am
However, the most significant loss for Ludlowe will be FOGO Brooks Klyver (Dickinson). Klyver was right up there for 3rd best FOGO in the FCIAC last year behind Dodge and Cummiskey. Ludlowe was rarely ever dominated possession-wise, with the only exception probably being Staples the 2nd time around.
Great stuff, thanks. Not nitpicking, but I believe Klyver has transferred to Roanoke.
CTlaxfan1
Posts: 33
Joined: Mon Aug 31, 2020 1:52 pm

Re: Connecticut 2022

Post by CTlaxfan1 »

Can Opener wrote: Mon Dec 20, 2021 5:26 am
SlingtheRock7 wrote: Sun Dec 19, 2021 2:41 am Figured I'd start up this thread for the 2022 season. Despite the headaches Covid periodically caused for teams, 2021 ended up being a pretty exciting lacrosse season. Darien was dominant throughout the regular season and the FCIAC tournament but was shocked by a young Fairfield Prep team. Ridgefield was able to take home the state championship despite the majority of their key contributors being Juniors (and a stud freshman). In my opinion, this season should be an even tighter race to see who finishes on top. Here's my way too early top 10 for the state. I apologize in advance to all non-FCIAC supporters, don't know very much about those teams but I will try my best to give some limited insight on them. I think my 1-5 is pretty accurate; 6-10 is very debatable.

1) Darien: The defending FCIAC champs did lose some key contributors from the previous season (particularly on defense), including Andy Demopolous (Brown), Jamison Moore (Princeton), Holt Matheis (Georgetown), Connor Omalley, and Sam Erickson (Army). Although all key contributors, I don't believe any of these losses are truly devastating ones besides potentially Demopolous. I'm not sure who's in the goalie pipeline at Darien, but whoever hops in the cage this Spring will have large shoes to fill. Moore was a great player that could play all over the field. However, Darien's current midfield depth is abundant and can easily make up for the loss of production. Erickson will be hard to replace down low but look for Juniors Mac Maghren (Bucknell) or Grafton Ely to fill that spot and the other close-D opening left by a 2nd graduating pole. Ely is more of an LSM, but his playtime may be limited in that position with Jeremiah Stafford returning. The Air Force commit was likely the 2nd best LSM in the FCIAC last year and will take the majority of playing time there. Senior David Evanchick (Villanova) is a very solid #1 pole and will have to anchor that unit down low alongside two new starters. Omalley was an unsung contributor for last year's Darien team, and I considered him the best SSDM in the state; his loss will also be felt defensively.

Darien returns their FOGO Cummiskey (Lafayette), who will allow them to dominate possession or be competitive against the teams with better FOGO's (Staples). This team is stacked offensively though. Minicus (Loyola) and Sophomore Brady Pokorny are both impact players coming off 1st team all FCIAC years. Finn Pokorny (Harvard) and Christian Allegro (Air Force) will lead the midfield unit alongside Joe Cesare (Georgetown), who will bear a greater offensive load compared to last year. Allegro had a considerable role last season but look for the senior to break out a bit more in 2022. His size is a problem for most teams, and I expect his production to be up considerably with more reps this year. I would put Darien as the favorite in 2022, but not by a wide margin. There are questions on the defensive end and in cage, but the offensive skill and solid FOGO play give them my #1 spot. Knowing Darien, they will also have at least 2-3 players come out of nowhere to be great players this season.

2) Ridgefield: May catch some heat for putting the defending state champs at #2. This was a relatively close call, but Ridgefield's lack of true FOGO was the primary reason for placing them here under Darien. Ridgefield returns essentially every key contributor from their team last year. The only significant loss that comes to mind is 2021 2nd team all-FCIAC SSDM Owen Gaydos. Gaydos was a solid player, but Ridgefield should be able to fill that role defensively and plug a new player into the top of their zone.

This team should be even better this year, and more importantly, should be even healthier. Ridgefield was able to overcome some key injury issues throughout last year. The first that comes to mind was the loss of Kai Prokaszka (UNC) towards the middle end of the year. In my opinion, Prokaszka has the most considerable impact of any pole in the state. He keeps faceoffs respectably close while taking them from the X, is a threat in transition, causes havoc in the middle of the field, and can apply a significant degree of pressure while on defense. Ridgefield will also return 2nd team all FCIAC defenseman Wade Steffens to anchor that unit alongside junior goalie Matthew Shepard (Bucknell).

Ridgefield is stacked once again on the offensive side of the field. Look for Ryan Colsey (UVA) to have a stronger season in 2022, as the rumor was he battled through significant injuries throughout the 2021 year. Most would assume that a Virginia commit on an attack line would be the primary offensive threat for a team. However, the leading point scorer and arguably the primary initiator for the 2021 Ridgefield team was current Sophomore Kyle Colsey. Kyle is one of the top sophomores in the entire country, and it is scary to think that he will only get better after a 100+ point freshman year. The 3rd member of the attack unit, senior CJ Lauretani (Lafayette), is another solid player who gives Ridgefield 3 legitimate scoring threats from behind.

Ridgefield's attack unit is arguably the best in the state, but their midfield is similarly talented. Seniors Josiah Degrasse (Tufts) and Ethan McGerald (Quinnipiac) will play alongside Junior Luke Winkler (Lehigh). All three midfielders started last season, which means Ridgefield returns every starter on offense from their state championship season. All six starters are threats to score, and teams will have to pick their poison as to which midfielders are given short stick matchups. Winkler is coming off a 1st team all FCIAC season and should draw pole preference most games, so look for Degrasse and Mcgerald to try and take advantage of SSDM's all year. Ridgefield's offense is great at utilizing the 2-man game with attack/mids together, particularly with Kyle Colsey, and will likely force a lot of switches of SSDM's on to attackmen due to the midfield threats.

The biggest question mark for this team going into 2022 revolves around faceoffs. Prokaszka will be able to take advantage of weaker FOGO's across the state. The real tests will come against teams with talented players at the X (Staples, Darien, Wilton, Prep). They've clearly shown to be able to do this with Prokaszka there, but there will be chances for another team to dominate possessions against them.

3) Fairfield Prep: Fairfield Prep had an extremely impressive 2021 campaign, marked by a massive upset of the Blue Wave in the state tournament. They were able to continue their state playoff push up to the championship game, where they fell 8-5 against Ridgefield. Prep has two significant losses from last year. Mason Whitney (Michigan) is gone and will be contributing to a loaded Taft team in the Founder's League. Whitney was one of the best poles in the state and could cause problems for any team's #1 attackman. Prep also loses goalie Sam Cargill who is now a freshman up at Hobart. Both of those losses will be felt on the defense. On the offensive end, attackman Patrick McAleavy (Providence) and Kyle Stevenson (F&M) also departed and left holes to be filled.

Although all four of the players mentioned above were significant contributors to the team last season, the Prep team that finished as state-runner-ups was filled with underclassmen. Midfielders Marco Firmender (Penn) and Peter Grandolfo (Bucknell) will lead a team filled with returning starters and should be in the conversation throughout the year as contenders for the state title. Admittedly, I largely follow FCIAC lacrosse, so I don't know quite as much about the personnel on Prep, but their wins over Darien, Staples, and a 1-1 split with Wilton last year make it an easy decision to place them here in the #3 spot above Staples.

4) Staples: Staples is coming off one of the best seasons in program history. The 2021 campaign included two wins over New Canaan and wins over Greenwich, Cheshire, and a tough Ludlowe team. Staples split with Ridgefield, with both games decided by 1. Additionally, Staples split with Wilton, but their win came in a 16-2 beat down win in the FCIAC semi's. The team also suffered two losses to Darien and one 1 to Prep.

I don't want to go as far as saying Staples underachieved last season, as that's not really the case. However, I can't help but feel Staples could have achieved a bit more. The team did appear in the FCIAC championship but got beaten down 15-3 after playing the Blue Wave tight earlier in the year. They then fell in the 1st round of states against Ridgefield. It's ridiculous that those two teams matched up in the first round, but if Staples wins that game, there's a decent chance that they go on to win states. Coach Koshansky is doing a phenomenal job with the program, but I'm sure he feels they could have accomplished a bit more last season.

Staples returns a number of their most important players from 2021, highlighted by FOGO Henry Dodge (UVM). Dodge should continue his dominance at the X, with only a few teams potentially having counters to him at the position. Staples also returns their entire attack unit, led by 1st team All FCIAC senior attackmen Charlie Howard (BU) and complimented by both Aidan Best (Lafayette) junior Tyler Clark (Army). Howard is a great finisher and off-ball player but not a primary initiator. Best and Clark are the team's go-to threats from X and should have excellent continuity this year. Ryan Thompson will be the midfield's main initiator after his 2nd team All FCIAC junior year.

Outside of the faceoff X, I thought the strength of this Staples team was its defense last year. Staples loses a few key contributors on the defensive end despite retaining much of their offensive production. Kevin Lynch (UMass) was one of the best defensemen in the FCIAC last year and typically matched up with #1 attackmen on each team. His departure will hurt, and so will 2nd team All-FCIAC defensemen Justin Franklin's graduation. Lastly, goalie JP Kosakowski is gone, leaving a hole in net as well. Kosakowksi was up there for best goalie in the state when he was healthy last year, so Staples will have to hope someone in the pipeline can fill his shoes.

Senior Gabriel Chinitz (Bryant) is a solid player who will take the #1 close-D role for the team alongside fellow senior Nick Augeri (St. John's Fisher). Augeri is a big and physical pole but occasionally struggles against smaller/quicker players. I'll be intrigued to see how he fairs this season with increased responsibility on that end of the field.

Staples should be competitive in every game they play and Dodge likely gives them a possession advantage against any opponent. As long as the D plays at a similar level as last year, expect Staples to be competing for both potential titles at the end of the season.


5) Wilton: Wilton's best players last year were predominately all sophomores and juniors who helped lead the Warriors to the semifinals in both the FCIAC's and in State's. Wilton was a win away from competing in either of the two finals but suffered beatdown losses in both games to Staples (16-2) and Prep (14-5). The lopsided Prep result was somewhat surprising considering Wilton had won the first matchup between the two teams early in the season.

The only notable losses from the 2021 Wilton team are midfielders Josh White, Will Hughes, and attackmen Jack Rosen. White was probably the biggest contributor out of the three, but none are remotely irreplaceable.

On offense, this team will again be led by senior Army commits Ben Calabrese and Grant Masterson. Masterson is probably the best two-way player in the FCIAC and does almost everything for the Warriors. He's a competent defender and great off the wings. Masterson is a quick dodger with a great shot. He's also stronger than his stature would indicate. These two will bear the brunt of offensive responsibilities once again and will be complemented by senior midfielder Matthew Giller (F&M) and the Rath twins. The Rath twins are both short and shifty dodgers that I think will have breakout junior years after being predominately 2nd line middies during their sophomore season.

Wilton does lose some solid role players on the defensive end. This includes poles Peter Groves and Sean Sullivan, as well as SSDM Jimmy McKiernan. Senior Jake Sommer (Notre Dame) is another top 5 pole in the state and will have to deal with leading some new faces on that side of the field. Senior goalie Colin Lenskold (Utah) should help cover up mistakes early in the year as Wilton attempts to rebuild defensive continuity following the departure of some key players.

FOGO Spencer Liston is, in my opinion, the 3rd best in the FCIAC and will either control or at least be competitive for Wilton in any matchup at the X.

Wilton is a quality team that does return several vital star players. However, I do personally think there's a bit of a gap between them and the top 4. This is not to say they cannot be competitive against those teams. I just think their odds of winning either the FCIAC or states is less than the top 4, who all have a quality chance to win one of those titles.

6) Cheshire:
Cheshire is another non-FCIAC team that I don't know too much about. I did get to watch a few of their games later in the season and was impressed by them. Cheshire is a fast-paced team that causes havoc in the middle of the field with a quasi-ten man/pressure ride. They were solid on the defensive end, but this team's real strength was on offense. They were a big and well-rounded unit that played very well together. From what I can tell, they return a number of critical pieces.
Cheshire was able to beat Ludlowe in the first round of states last year 12-11 before falling to Wilton 12-8. Cheshire played Greenwich to a close 10-9 game and also competed with Staples, losing 12-9. However, last year's team really only had two quality wins, Ludlowe and Hand, who they lost to the 2nd time around in their conference tournament.

Cheshire retains a number of their best players from last year. On offense, junior attackmen Charles Kurtz (UMass) and senior Jason Raba (St. John's) are back, along with midfielder Andrew Benjamin (Providence). Additionally, sophomore Mathew Jeffrey is one of the top players in his class and should have a standout year after a relatively injury-plagued freshman season.

When watching the Ludlowe game last year, I thought the most significant difference-maker was current senior LSM Max Manware (Jacksonville). He is vital for their pressure ride and causes a ton of turnovers in the middle of the field.

Cheshire will definitely miss FOGO Aidan Gaudet (Conn College) and may have a hole at that position. Additionally, the team will lose their 2nd and 3rd leading goal scorers in Brian Bouwman (Merrimack) and Jack Lovelace. PJ Cass (Swarthmore) was another contributing offensive player who is now gone. Senior Goalie Andrew Vernon also graduated.

Cheshire does lose some offensive firepower, but they have enough returned to be a dangerous team this year. Their ranking in this position is based mainly on me believing they have a competent goalie to step into the cage. If this team doesn't adequately fill the goalie spot and does not have someone to take faceoffs, Cheshire's ranking will drop a couple of spots on this list.


7) Greenwich: I thought Bobby Lutz did an incredible job with his Greenwich team last season. They rebounded from an abysmal 2019 season to have a respectable 2021 year. This team was able to overcome early-season adversity brought about through Covid to win some big games and compete in several others. The 15-13 win over Ridgefield, 10-9 win over Cheshire, and 14-5 win over Ludlowe were impressive results. I know Ludlowe has not historically been a big win, but outside of Darien, Greenwich was the only team to really beat down the Falcons last season. The only lopsided results against Greenwich results were the 20-6 blowout loss at Darien and the 8-2 loss to Ridgefield in FCIAC's. Their season ended with a 10-9 heartbreaker against Prep.

Greenwich does lose a good portion of its key contributors from 2021. The first name that stands out as a significant loss is 1st team All FCIAC midfielder Will Montesi. Montesi is currently playing football at Army but was a massive matchup problem for teams due to his sheer size. 1st team All FCIAC defender Chris Cataldo is also gone now. Greenwich will need to fill the spots of attackman John Cataldo, defender James O'Malley, Midfielder Jack Cook, and SSDM Hank Minchin, all of whom received FCIAC honors.

2nd team All FCIAC attackman Bryce Metalios and Junior Brian Collins will have a great deal of increased offensive responsibility for the Cardinals this year along with midfielder James Pilc.

Defensively, junior Matt Trimmer (Providence) and senior Roy Knutson will be key contributors in front of a returning goalie. FOGO Quinn Warrick is also back, who should be competing for that 3rd best FCIAC FOGO position this season.

If Cheshire doesn't find a good FOGO, Greenwich will quickly hop them in this ranking. I give them this seven spot despite having beat Cheshire last season because I think they lose a bit more key contributors than the Rams. Losing Montesi will hurt, as will losing arguably the team's two best poles. I think Greenwich will still be competitive this year, but I don't see them cracking the top 5. In my opinion, spot six should be this team's ceiling for the 2022 season.

8) Ludlowe: Ludlowe is coming off one of its most competitive seasons in program history. I'm sure there are previous seasons where they had a better record or went farther in either the FCIACs or States. However, it's difficult to remember a season where they were quite as competitive against the traditional powerhouses as 2021. The marquee victories for Ludlowe were a dominant 16-7 victory over St. Joe's and, of course, the 8-7 2OT win over New Canaan in States. Additionally, Ludlowe had a one-goal loss to Wilton, a two-goal loss to Ridgefield, played Staples tight in both games, and lost to Cheshire by 1. The only real blowout losses they suffered were against Darien and, surprisingly, Greenwich.

At first glance, Ludlowe doesn't lose much. Senior Jake Fratarcangelli (Desales) was a 2nd team All FCIAC attackman who was the clear #1 from behind the cage. Although a solid attackman, I was surprised he was the lone 1st/2nd team player for Ludlowe, considering he was probably the 3rd best overall initiator on offense. Declan Kuhn (Conn College) will be a big loss for this team, as he frequently matched up on opposing teams' #1 or #2 attackmen. However, the most significant loss for Ludlowe will be FOGO Brooks Klyver (Dickinson). Klyver was right up there for 3rd best FOGO in the FCIAC last year behind Dodge and Cummiskey. Ludlowe was rarely ever dominated possession-wise, with the only exception probably being Staples the 2nd time around.

Despite some key losses, Ludlowe retains most of their best players. Seniors Liam Keeser (Sacred Heart) and Colin McCarthy (Kenyon) were the best offensive players for this team last year and will look to build off their success from last season. Keeser's size makes him a matchup problem for almost anybody in the conference. McCarthy compliments him very well and has shown to cause problems whenever guarded by a short stick. No clue how neither of them made one of the top 2 FCIAC teams last season. Cooper Carr (RPI) is a solid attackman who predominately thrives off the ball. Ludlowe did have trouble when they were double-poled in the midfield last year, and I expect teams to do more of the same this year. Carr is a good attackman but don't expect him to win a 1v1 against some of the #1 poles in the state. The key to this team on offense will be sophomore John Kleinbeck. Kleinbeck was a key starter last year who gained confidence as the year progressed. If he can consistently beat shorties out of the midfield this year, Ludlowe should score despite a seemingly lackluster attack unit. No clue who the Falcons will plug in at attack next to Carr.

Ludlowe does graduate a few other poles from last year but returns three, led by seniors Finn Hoey (Sacred Heart) and Luke Lesizza (Stevens Tech). I thought Lesizza was one of the better cover guys in the FCIAC last year. Despite a short stature, he's a physical player who Ludlowe will lean on to guard top offensive threats this year. Hoey is great off the ground and is a constant threat to push the ball in transition. Goalie Muphy Hoey returns in the cage and should provide solid play again this year. One of the strengths of this team when watching them last season was their D-mids. When they were rested this team was hard to score on. However, I anticipate Ludlowe will struggle again this year from a lack of depth. I'm curious to see whether Coach Swett in his 2nd year takes a bit larger of a roster to try and add some depth, although the roster decision might just be a result of a limited pipeline of players to pull from.

If this team has a FOGO that can compete this year, look for them to continue to play some of the top dogs competitively. If they don't have anyone in that spot that can at least keep it 50/50 at the X then I'd expect a drop-off in performance compared to last season.

9) New Canaan: It May have been a bit of recency bias to put New Canaan below Ludlowe, but this team does graduate more starters than any other FCIAC team. On offense, star midfielders Chris Canet (Penn0 and Ryan Caione (Bucknell) are gone. Additionally, starters Callum Wood (Tufts), Nick Stiles (MIT), and Harry Appelt (Williams) are gone. On defense, poles Charlie Borthwick (Swarthmore), Braden Sweeney, and Christian Wolter (Ohio Wesleyan) graduate along with FOGO Hayden Shin (Trinity).

Sophomore defensemen Dylan Steffens and Junior attackman Tommy Augustine are the best players returning on this team. Senior midfielders Michael Norton (Bowdoin) and Carter Connors (F&M) are also solid players, while goalie Holden Busby returns in cage. New Canaan has many holes to fill from a team that finished with four straight losses to end the season, including a 2OT loss to Wilton in the 1st round of FCIAC's and a 2OT loss to Ludlowe in the play-in round of States.

I'm sure there are a number of promising players coming in through the pipeline for New Canaan that will allow them to be competitive, but I just don't see how they can compete with some of the top teams next year. This team's primary form of offensive initiation came almost strictly from Canet and Caione out of the midfield. Wood was a solid complimentary player who was a threat from re-dodges and could occasionally beat a defender top side for goals. Stiles was a similar type of player but a lefty.

Augustine will likely have to carry a lot of the load this season, but I'm unfortunately not convinced he'll be able to consistently win matchups against #1 cover guys from better teams. Norton and Connors may grow as players this season with more offensive opportunities and a longer leash to make mistakes, but neither of them consistently won 1v1 matchups last year, and I'm not optimistic that we'll see a change in that. Instead of drawing a 2nd D-mid, these guys will be getting pole preference and top D-mids matched up against them, matchups that I don't think are too favorable for them.

Defensively, Dylan Steffens can match any top attackman in the state and is probably one of the best defensive prospects in the country for the sophomore class. Him and senior Nick Garcia (W&L) will have to lead D in front of Holden Busby but should be at least a solid unit. The loss of Shin at the X leaves a vacancy there, but New Canaan seems to churn out a new competent FOGO year after year, so I'm sure there's someone in the pipeline ready to fill in.

Overall, New Canaan's major questions lie on the offensive side of the ball. If they can find some primary initiators outside of Augustine, New Canaan will be able to hop a few teams above them in this ranking (Ludlowe, Greenwich). However, I think they are far from the top 4 and probably a decent amount worse than Wilton/Cheshire. If they can't find any offensive firepower and there doesn't happen to be a FOGO in the pipeline, this could be one of New Canaan's biggest down years in recent memory.

10) Daniel Hand: Daniel Hand could potentially be higher on this list, but I really don't know anything about who this team has returning next year. They had a solid win over Ludlowe at the start of the season, granted that Ludlowe team was without several players, and a big win over Cheshire. Later in the year, I'd imagine Hand could be either 8 or 9 but wouldn't see them above the eight position. The drop-off from these ten spots is considerable compared to some of the other teams in the state that I at least know of. The rest of the FCIAC will be weak this season, so I think Hand should slot into the top 10. Where they definitively belong though may be better answered by someone else.

Others:

St Joe's: St Joe's loses essentially every key player from last season. 2nd team All FCIAC players Preston Kral (Stony Brook) and Jack Fearnly (Binghamton) graduate, as does attackman Erick Burbank (York) and goalie Max Kimmel (Roger Williams). The only real bright spot for this team is that FOGO Jack Kilmartin is back, who was solid in that role last year.

Kral and Burbank were the driving forces of that offense, and without them, I just don't see how this team competes with the FCIAC teams I've placed in the top 10.

Trumbull: Trumbull was heavily reliant on 2nd team all FCIAC attackman Julian Kammerman (Roanoke) last season. Midfielders Ethan Hughes and Shea Grant were also talented and physical dodgers that could get Trumbull goals. All three of these players are now gone, and there isn't a lot in the pipeline that I know of to fill the lost scoring abilities. Trumbull may finish with a similar record to last season but won't be competitive with the top 10.

Warde: Jack Mckenna (Fairfield) and Zach Corsi (St. Lawrence) were the heart and soul of this Warde team last season. McKenna was arguably the most dominant offensive player in the FCIAC, while Corsi finished the year with 2nd team All FCIAC honors. Both of them have now graduated alongside FOGO Andrew Buck (Haverford) and a number of other contributing players. Warde will have the biggest drop-off of any of the teams I've mentioned after a solid 2021 season. This team will struggle at the faceoff X, struggle to score goals, and lack a decent amount of defensive cohesion after graduating a few key starters.
High quality stuff. Thank you!
This a great. Can't wait for the season to start!!
SlingtheRock7
Posts: 23
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Re: Connecticut 2022

Post by SlingtheRock7 »

A few big games coming up this Saturday to kick off the start of the lacrosse season for the FCIAC teams.

Fairfield Prep v. Ridgefield
Definitely the game of the weekend and a rematch of the state championship game from last year that Ridgefield won 8-5. As I mentioned in my last post, Ridgefield returns almost every key contributor from last year's team besides their top SSDM. They have a loaded senior class that is experienced and familiar with each other. Prep also returns the bulk of their team but will miss Mason Whitney at D, Patrick McAleavy at attack, Sam Cagill in cage. This was a young team last year so I'm excited to see if they take another jump this season with a year of experience under many of their belts.

A big thing to look out for in this game is how senior Ryan Colsey (UVA) performs. He battled injuries for most of last season so I'm interested to see if he's (1) healthier and (2) whether he has an increased offensive load this year. Kyle Colsey was the primary threat/initiator from last year's team but I'm intrigued to see if that changes at all now that his older brother should be healthier.

I'll also be looking to see how Prokaszka (UNC) fairs at the faceoff X. I anticipate he'll take the majority of draws again this season and if he can keep the FO% close to 50% I believe Ridgefield will get an opening season win.

Staples v. Bronxville
Staples hosts out-of-state Bronxville on Saturday to open up their season. I will admit that I know nothing about Bronxville outside of what can be found on Inside Lacrosse. They do have three college commits listed, which includes two attackmen going to F&M and Hobart, as well as a defenseman headed to Colby. They finished 12-6 in 2021 and seem to return a good amount of starters. What is important to note is that Bronxville will play Iona Prep tomorrow in an actual game, which may allow them to get any first-game jitters out prior to Staples.

However, I see Staples winning comfortably here. There doesn't seem to be a FOGO committed on the Bronxville roster, which is a bad sign when playing a Staples team that has 1st Team All-FCIAC FOGO Henry Dodge (UVM) on the roster. Dodge dominated at the X all last year in Connecticut and will likely do so again this year. Staples is another team at the top of the FCIAC that returns the bulk of its roster. They did have some big losses but most of the offensive contributors are back, including Aidan Best (Lafayette), Charlie Howard (BU), and Tyler Clark (Army). Gabriel Chintz (Bryant) will all be able to handle most matchups against top attackmen on the defensive end.

New Canaan v. Mamaroneck
Time to see who New Canaan will be putting out on the field this season after graduating almost all of their starting lineup from last year. As I've previously mentioned, the Rams graduated almost every starter on the offensive end of the field as well their FOGO and a few defensive starters. I unfortunately know very little about Mamaroneck as well outside of Inside lacrosse info. However, the commit list for the Mamaroneck team coming off a 16-2 season in 2021 doesn't bode well for the Rams. The Tigers have attackmen headed to Penn and Providence as well as midfielders going to Penn, Providence, and Harvard. NC's top attackman will likely end up being guarded by Cornell commit Brady Auker. Additionally, Mamaroneck will have two games of experience heading into New Canaan, including a 13-7 win over Sachem North this past Saturday.

2021 did not go as planned for New Canaan and I don't see 2022 playing out much better. This is an extremely difficult game to kick off the season with and I don't anticipate the Rams being able to pull out a victory. They have too many new pieces to try and fit together right away and will have a plethora of new/younger starters with minimal game experience. Last year's offense was almost completely dependent on Canet and Caione. Interested to see if Buzzeo changes their system around now that they don't have a go-to midfielder (at least not one that I know of). Also curious to see how they fare at the X; New Canaan always has had competitive FOGO' so I'm sure they have one ready to fill in this year. Expecting a comfortable Mamaroneck win on Saturday over the Rams.
random observer
Posts: 477
Joined: Sun Mar 03, 2019 10:31 am

Re: Connecticut 2022

Post by random observer »

Excited for the start of the season this weekend, as this should be a really strong year in the CIAC, with a number of the traditional top teams having great senior classes. Darien, Ridgefield, Fairfield Prep, and Staples are all teams that can compete with the best teams nationally IMO, with Wilton featuring more question marks but also having a good foundation to build off of. I echo Slingtherock in highlighting Cheshire, Ludlowe, Greenwich, Hand, and New Canaan as some other teams in contention; Cheshire and Ludlowe return some really good foundations from teams that were competitive with the top of the state last year, Greenwich also returns quite a bit from a team that rebounded after an abysmal 2019, and Hand gave Prep a strong challenge in the SCC finals. NC will be very interesting to watch, as they lost a deep senior class that underperformed last year, as well as their top underclassman Augustine (he is repeating his sophomore year up at Deerfield). I expect that if they are to be in the mix, it will be on the strength of a young but talented defense.

Lots of great OOC and out-of-state matchups, although I find myself wishing that Ridgefield and particularly Staples had been able to beef up theirs even more given both have really strong senior classes. Staples looked really impressive last week in a highly competitive scrimmage against St. Anthony's. Very intrigued to see how Fairfield Prep performs; they have a number of returning players who started as freshmen and sophomores who should take a step forward, but they lack the senior leadership of the other top contenders. They also were a bit Jekyll and Hyde even at the end of 2021: are they the team that nearly lost to Greenwich and lost to a Ridgefield team playing without their top scorer, or are they the team that mauled Darien and Wilton in between?
ISL Laxin'
Posts: 13
Joined: Sun Mar 17, 2019 1:32 pm

Re: Connecticut 2022

Post by ISL Laxin' »

Looks like Wilton got bumped down to M this year. Weston, the reigning M champs, dropped to S as well. Enrollment shouldn't kill a team's chance to face the best competition come June. CT really needs to bring back the old DI / DII setup for lacrosse
jmct
Posts: 15
Joined: Wed Apr 24, 2019 9:43 pm

Re: Connecticut 2022

Post by jmct »

SlingtheRock7 wrote: Wed Mar 30, 2022 1:13 pm A few big games coming up this Saturday to kick off the start of the lacrosse season for the FCIAC teams.

Fairfield Prep v. Ridgefield
Definitely the game of the weekend and a rematch of the state championship game from last year that Ridgefield won 8-5. As I mentioned in my last post, Ridgefield returns almost every key contributor from last year's team besides their top SSDM. They have a loaded senior class that is experienced and familiar with each other. Prep also returns the bulk of their team but will miss Mason Whitney at D, Patrick McAleavy at attack, Sam Cagill in cage. This was a young team last year so I'm excited to see if they take another jump this season with a year of experience under many of their belts.

A big thing to look out for in this game is how senior Ryan Colsey (UVA) performs. He battled injuries for most of last season so I'm interested to see if he's (1) healthier and (2) whether he has an increased offensive load this year. Kyle Colsey was the primary threat/initiator from last year's team but I'm intrigued to see if that changes at all now that his older brother should be healthier.

I'll also be looking to see how Prokaszka (UNC) fairs at the faceoff X. I anticipate he'll take the majority of draws again this season and if he can keep the FO% close to 50% I believe Ridgefield will get an opening season win.
Thanks for the analysis. One correction: Prokaszka even when healthy did not take the majority of draws for Ridgefield last year. He was only used as a last resort if their two FOGO guys were struggling. In the championship game vs Prep, the hero for Ridgefield was soph Jackson Penn, who dominated at the X in the second half. Kai didn't take any faceoffs at all.
SlingtheRock7
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Re: Connecticut 2022

Post by SlingtheRock7 »

Apologies for the mistake with Prohaszka, may have jumped to conclusions based on the limited Ridgefield games I watched! In retrospect, those were games where he was either out or Ridgefield was playing teams with solid FOGOs. Didn't get to watch the championship game last year but if that's the case then Ridgefield should be even harder to beat this season.
pcowlax
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Re: Connecticut 2022

Post by pcowlax »

Two spankings dishes out by Staples and New Canaan, I am with those who didn’t really see that coming from NC but with such a young team and not being plugged into the town I really am not sure what they have. Cheshire loses but pretty good showing vs what is usually a strong LaSalle team. Staples is going to be a handful this year.
fritz44
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Re: Connecticut 2022

Post by fritz44 »

According to twitter Ludlowe beat NC again 7-6. Second win in a row for Ludlowe over NC and their second victory ever over NC.
ToastDunk
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Re: Connecticut 2022

Post by ToastDunk »

On Nov. 27, 2021, 24 boys and girls lacrosse teams across Connecticut participated in the 15th Annual Sticks for Soldiers Thanksgiving Charity Lacrosse Tournament to honor and raise funds for U.S. Army (Retired) SFC Micah Welintukonis. Earlier this year, because of their efforts, we where able to present Micah with a check for $40,000. Lead with love, and you will make a difference in peoples lives. A big thank you to all who participated, volunteered, and made donations to this year’s event.

Sticks for Soldiers will announce (soon) an additional recipient receiving $10,000.

https://www.linkedin.com/feed/update/ur ... 1848843264
pcowlax
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Re: Connecticut 2022

Post by pcowlax »

fritz44 wrote: Tue Apr 05, 2022 11:12 pm According to twitter Ludlowe beat NC again 7-6. Second win in a row for Ludlowe over NC and their second victory ever over NC.
Break up Fairfield!…oh wait..
ToastDunk
Posts: 383
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Re: Connecticut 2022

Post by ToastDunk »

pcowlax wrote: Wed Apr 06, 2022 4:11 pm
fritz44 wrote: Tue Apr 05, 2022 11:12 pm According to twitter Ludlowe beat NC again 7-6. Second win in a row for Ludlowe over NC and their second victory ever over NC.
Break up Fairfield!…oh wait..
:lol: :lol: :lol:
pcowlax
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Re: Connecticut 2022

Post by pcowlax »

Darien over Chaminade 15-12, would have loved to see that one. Greenwich loses by 1 to Mamaroneck, who NC (unexpectedly to me) spanked earlier in the year. Comparing scores is usually a fool’s errand with high school kids but interesting none-the-less.
random observer
Posts: 477
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Re: Connecticut 2022

Post by random observer »

pcowlax wrote: Sat Apr 09, 2022 3:22 pm Darien over Chaminade 15-12, would have loved to see that one. Greenwich loses by 1 to Mamaroneck, who NC (unexpectedly to me) spanked earlier in the year. Comparing scores is usually a fool’s errand with high school kids but interesting none-the-less.
To be quite honest Darien should have won by more. They jumped Chaminade early and led 10-4 at the half. The second half they slowed things down and salt the game away much too early. A few fast break goals off of silly turnovers later and it went from a rout to a competitive game. Still, any time Chaminade seemed like they might make the game truly close Darien answered with a couple of goals to stretch things out again; the lead never got closer than three after the first quarter. All in all still a good performance, especially in light of what those kids have been dealing with coming into the start of the season.

Darien's offense got a quality look whenever they wanted; Minicus and Pokorny at attack are the stars, but the first midfield line creates so many matchup problems that most of the initiating comes from up top. I thought the defense looked very strong in the first half (3 of the 4 goals came when man down), but they were a bit shakier in the second half. Clearing was an adventure and led to some cheap goals (but credit to the Flyers ride for applying good pressure). Goaltending was a bit spotty as well; the senior Weibel made a few big saves in crunch time, but really didn't track the ball well; he relies on his frame and body positioning, but doesn't save much with his stick. I'm very surprised that the highly touted sophomore Hagen wasn't given at least a half out there.

As for Greenwich/Mamaroneck, I think Mamaroneck is a better team than they showed against NC, so I think a one goal loss on the road for Greenwich is not a terrible showing to start the season. This is shaping up to be one of the strongest years for CT lacrosse in quite some time.
SlingtheRock7
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Joined: Thu Apr 29, 2021 11:13 am

Re: Connecticut 2022

Post by SlingtheRock7 »

Darien up 10-4 at the half right now. Major difference at the moment is faceoffs, Cummiskey has lost maybe 1 and is around 14/15 from the X for the half. Darien's O looking very impressive as well. Ridgefield's zone D is getting carved up but that may be a bit due to fatigue as they've spent a good chunk of the game on that end of the field. Ridgefield has shown the ability to score on O but not getting a ton of opportunities. Weibel's playing pretty well.

Noticeable absences for Ridgefield today are Prokaszka and Degrasse I believe. Prokaszka in particular could've been a real difference-maker in trying to tighten the possession gap and sure up some issues on the defensive end
fritz44
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Re: Connecticut 2022

Post by fritz44 »

SlingtheRock7 wrote: Tue Apr 12, 2022 5:04 pm Darien up 10-4 at the half right now. Major difference at the moment is faceoffs, Cummiskey has lost maybe 1 and is around 14/15 from the X for the half. Darien's O looking very impressive as well. Ridgefield's zone D is getting carved up but that may be a bit due to fatigue as they've spent a good chunk of the game on that end of the field. Ridgefield has shown the ability to score on O but not getting a ton of opportunities. Weibel's playing pretty well.

Noticeable absences for Ridgefield today are Prokaszka and Degrasse I believe. Prokaszka in particular could've been a real difference-maker in trying to tighten the possession gap and sure up some issues on the defensive end

Hard to really dig too much into these results with the amount of injuries that Ridgefield had. It sounded like one of their better midfielders had to be helped off the field in the middle of the game also. Hopefully they can regain some of their strength before the Manhasset and Wilton games.

Does anyone know the length of the injuries? Would be a real shame to see a promising season be derailed so early on.
random observer
Posts: 477
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Re: Connecticut 2022

Post by random observer »

15-9 final, but Darien called off the dogs early in the second half -- not much to read into because of the Ridgefield injuries. To my eyes the missing players were DeGrasse, Prohazska, and Steffens, and Winkler took a knock too during the game. Very concerning heading into a big matchup against Manhasset.

NC drops a heartbreaker to Radnor 9-8 in 2OT. Tough loss, but a great showing from what is supposedly a down NC team (and maybe the 6-7th best team in the conference) against the top public school team in PA.
SlingtheRock7
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Re: Connecticut 2022

Post by SlingtheRock7 »

New Canaan has been interesting to watch this season. Was very surprised with the Mamaroneck result. Watched the game and was impressed with the entire team. Offense looked like they had a number of weapons. Sophomore #23 Crowell was a standout in that game with multiple great inside finishes and a strong shot from the outside. #3 Connors was impressive in that game and has been for most of the season. The defense looked good and they dominated at the X with #15 and #33 alternating reps.

The defense and the FOGO play were strong against Ludlwoe as well but the offense stagnated. New Canaan went over 75% at the X that game but only managed to put up 6 goals in the 7-6 loss. Ludlowe does seem to have a very strong defensive unit this year. #5 Luke Lesizza is a strong cover guy down low and will be on one of the 2 All-FCIAC teams while #22 FInn Hoey is in my opinion the 3rd best LSM in the FCIAC at the moment. They also have some big and athletic D-mids that matched up well with NC's midfielders. Overall, Ludlowe seemed a lot more physical then New Canaan on the defensive end and managed to get enough stops to give their O a chance to hang around and pull out the game despite going into the 4th down 6-4.

NC battled against Radnor, who had some really impressive players on both ends of the field and could've easily had the game bounce their way. The issue for NC at the moment is they don't have enough players who can win their 1v1 matchup. Radnor started shortying NC's attack and put polls on Connors and Norton out of the midfield. They'll need more from Villanueve and Connelly at attack if they want to compete with the top dogs in the conference this year. At the moment, I'd have them below Ludlowe and slightly ahead of Greenwich in a FCIAC power ranking for spots 5, 6 and 7.
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