Sports
Rams' Comeback Not Enough for an FCIAC Crown
New Canaan boys lacrosse bounces back from a 5-0 deficit but can't catch Greenwich.
The Greenwich Cardinals scored the first five goals against the New Canaan Rams boys lacrosse team in the FCIAC championship game on Friday night, and despite a spirited comeback by the higher seeded Rams, Greenwich's lead held up as they won 5-4.
The Cardinals opened up with a suffocating zone defense that Rams Coach Alex Whitten said "required patience on our part, and all we did all game long was to throw the ball away and not shoot well."
Greenwich drew first blood three minutes after the opening draw when freshman Alex Moesser scored. Later in the quarter, Eric Foote gave the Cardinal a 2-0 lead while the Rams were having trouble getting any room for a clean shot.
As they did all game long, the Cardinals had at least one man guarding offensive threat Joe Costigan regardless of where the ball was, and if Costigan did manage to get scoring opportunities he ran into double and even triple teams.
"It was tough to get through their defense," Costigan said later, "but the big key was that we just didn't step up tonight."
With one minute remaining in the first quarter, Pete Cabrera scored for the Cardinals to make it 3-0 after one.
Things didn't get any better for the Rams in the second quarter. Just 13 seconds in, Cabrera scored again and it was starting to look like a carbon copy of the other FCIAC lacrosse final earlier in the evening in which the New Cannan girls had surrendered seven goals before they scored.
It became 5-0 when Moeser got his second goal. The Cardinal defense continued to pressure the Rams until Scott O'Brien got the Rams on the board with five minutes remaining in the quarter. The teams went into the break with Greenwich up 5-1.
New Canaan started its run in the second half with two outstanding goals. Costigan, with two and three Cardinals banging him and whacking him with their sticks, somehow managed to get off a shot and score to make it a 5-2 game.
The Rams scored again when Ian Knechtle got blasted as he let off a shot past goalie Dan Feeney. As he fell to the ground, Knecthle didn't see it go in, but the fans who packed the stands did.
New Canaan had fought back to make it a 5-3 game, still in the third quarter.
A short time later, Costigan got the ball near midfield and saw Henry Eschricht behind the Cardinal defense. He threw a perfect lob pass to Eschricht, who buried it to make it a 5-4 game with one quarter remaining.
Greenwich continued to pack the middle and the Rams continued to miss the target. Feeney, according to Whitten, "had the day off courtesy of us." Feeney needed just six saves on the night to hold back the Rams and was hardly pressed in the final twelve minutes. The Rams did get one final shot which Feeney easily handled and that was it for the comeback.
Whitten added, "To shut a team down in the second half—hold them scoreless—and not be able to step up was the kiss of death for us."
Both teams move into the states, Greenwich in the Class L division and New Canaan in Class M where they'll be seeded No. 3 behind New Fairfield and Darien.
The Rams' first round game will be at home against No. 14 seed Pomperaug on Thursday, June 3, at 3 p.m. at NCHS.
