By Paul Silverfarb
Sentinel Editor
The Greenwich High School boys’ lacrosse team ended its regular season in grand fashion while playing under the lights at Cardinal Stadium.
Hosting Trumbull High School on Senior Night Tuesday, Big Red jumped out to a good lead and came away with a 13-7 victory over the Eagles.
“It was great,” GHS head coach Bobby Lutz said. “Trumbull is a top FCIAC team and they made the tournament. They are having a great year and have a lot of talented players, so it was a great way to finish the regular season and a good tune-up going to FCIACs.”
Leading the way for the Cardinals was sophomore standout Jack Feda, who scored four goals overall. Not to be outdone was senior Jack O’Connor, as he ended the day with a hat trick and one assist. Teammate Addison Muir, also a senior, had two goals and two assists, while junior Matt Baugher netted two goals.
Senior Bailey Savio also had himself a game. In addition to winning 18 of the 24 faceoffs on the day, he also grabbed a goal and an assist. Senior Truman Imbo added one goal and junior Zach Turner was solid at distributing the ball, finishing with three assists.
Between the pipes was senior Andrew Triscari, who ended the day with six assists.
Lutz said that it seems like every season the Eagles get better and better, using a combination of a solid coaching staff and tremendous offensive firepower.
“They battle,” Lutz said. “They have a bunch of players that play really well together. Their three attackmen combined have a lot of points. They are a group where they spread the ball around really well. They might not be as deep as some of the top teams in the FCIAC, but they certainly have talent in certain spots. You definitely can’t take them lightly.”
With the victory, Greenwich finished the regular season on a high note, which was all the sweeter because Lutz was able to get in all six seniors—a perfect ending for Senior Night.
In addition to the seniors already mentioned, Big Red honored defensive specialist Andrew Bologna and fellow defenders Holden Tiedy and Brandon DelCristo. Short-stick defensive midfielder Noah Niklaus, along with Michael Graves, William Perlman, Chris D’Arminio, Kai Thompsen, Ronald Casella and Trevor Disbennett were also honored.
“It was also nice to get are seniors in,” Lutz said. “We have a lot of guys that really contribute in practices, but aren’t getting much playing time. We started a bunch of those guys and it was good. Everyone got to play in a game that was a meaningful win. We ended the season on a great note.”
Next stop for Greenwich High School is the postseason, as Big Red preps for competition in a hotly contested Fairfield County Interscholastic Athletic Conference tournament. This season, Big Red fell five time during the regular season, but only two times in conference play, losing to Darien (12-8) and Wilton (8-7 OT).
They did not face New Canaan during the season. All three teams appear to be the top teams in the conference.
This year the FCIAC playoffs have Darien leading the pack. From there, it’s a battle between New Canaan and Wilton high schools, with Greenwich, Ridgefield and Staples right there as well.
“The FCIAC is always pretty strong,” Lutz said. “You can throw in a Glastonbury and Fairfield Prep when it comes to some of the top teams in the state, but the FCIAC has some amazing talent. For us to win the FCIAC, we have to beat some really good teams. And that is including one of the best teams in the country with Darien.”
Although GHS was defeated by Darien by four goals, it was far from a blowout. In fact, Greenwich held a three-goal lead at halftime and was up by one with one quarter to play.
“We had a pretty good game against Darien the other day and we were beating them 8-7 going into the fourth quarter, but they are so deep and so talented,” Lutz said. “They forced us to make mistakes and they capitalized. But we are all there looking
In order for Greenwich to have a postseason to remember, it’s all about playing mistake-free lacrosse for Lutz.
“It’s high school sports and the kids are young,” Lutz said. “They are always going to make mistakes, but it’s all about trying to keep them to a minimum. The weather is turning nice and the kids are losing focus. We need to match the intensity of the opposing team. And the key to that is utilizing all your practices. We need to play the practices every single day, whether it’s just one little play or one little ride or one little clear. It’s about learning something new in each practice. The teams that have the best practices and the best game plans have the best success.”
“Having Bailey Savio is key for us,” Lutz said. “Sometimes you take someone like that for granted. Looking past him, because we know he’s going to be our key to success in getting possessions, we need to have our offense finally have that chemistry that we have been trying to get all season. The defense is always pretty strong and we have good goalie play, but the offense needs to move the ball around a little more. We are getting more goals. We scored eight against Darien. And in our last regular season game against a really good defense in Trumbull, we put up 13 goals.
“I think offensively, we are finally starting to click.”
