It was not the usual format of a full regular season and playoffs for FCIAC field hockey teams, but there were still accomplishments and playoff games aplenty.
Among the final accomplishments was that 20 players from the conference were selected to the FCIAC category of the 2020 Connecticut High School Coaches Association All-State Field Hockey.
The CHSCA utilized a unique all-state format this season due to the abnormality of the year. Past all-state teams were categorized by the classifications which were determined by which state class tournaments each school was in.
But because there were no state tournaments this year and schools only played against other schools in their geographic region during regular season and then the postseason, the CHSCA determined the most fair way to select all-state teams was to select the deserving players from each of their respective conferences.
Consequently, FCIAC Central Region champion Ridgefield led the way with four CHSCA all-state selections, while East Region champion Trumbull, West Region champion Greenwich and Darien each had three all-state picks.
Senior goalie Lisa van Gompel, Aerin Krys, senior captain Riley Peters and her younger sister, Mackenzie, were Ridgefield’s four all-state selections.
Ridgefield’s Tigers needed a stellar performance from van Gompel in the FCIAC Central Region championship game and they got it as van Gompel came up big with 11 saves to lead the Tigers to their 2-1 victory over Staples. Each of the Peters sisters scored a goal.
Coach Jessica Smith’s Tigers finished 8-1-0-1 as van Gompel shut out four foes and allowed eight goals in 10 games.
Senior goalie Meg McCarthy and senior forwards Lauren Buck and Gigi Socci were Trumbull’s all-state picks.
McCarthy was a huge reason why Trumbull had quite the dominant season as coach Colleen Filush’s undefeated Eagles outscored their opposition by a 35-1 margin and finished 12-0.
McCarthy stopped four shots when she registered her 11th shutout of the year in Trumbull’s 2-0 victory over Fairfield Ludlowe in the FCIAC East Region championship game. McCarthy was previously a two-time selection to the All-FCIAC First Team, in 2018 and ’19, and this year she was one of six Eagles on the FCIAC All-East Region Team.
Defensive midfielder and senior captain Charlotte Gans, junior midfielder Isabella Lattuada and senior goalie and captain Jorja Pastore were the all-state players for the West Region champion Greenwich Cardinals of coach Megan Wax, who outscored their opponents by a 10-0 margin in the region tourney semifinals and championnship game to finish 6-4-1.
Lattuada, Zita Cohen, Kayla Johnson, Agustino Ferrario, Isabella Lattuada, Ellie Ybarra and Klara Mueffelmann each scored a goal in Greenwich’s 6-0 victory over Stamford in the FCIAC West Region championship game.
The three Darien all-state players were Raina Johns, Lindsey Olsen and Brinsley Rushe.
Anna Lindeis and Molly Mitchell were New Canaan’s all-state selections.
New Canaan had a very good team this year and did defeat Greenwich, 2-0, late in the regular season But New Canaan’s top-seeded Rams had to withdraw from the regional tournament because players and coaches were under quarantine.
The other five FCIAC players who made the 2020 CHSCA All-State Field Hockey Team were Laine Ambrose and Izzy Deveney of Staples, Norwalk’s Tessa Albrecht, Wilton’s Charlotte Casiraghi, and Fairfield Ludlowe’s Sofia LaFalce.
Ambrose, a senior midfielder who will play field hockey for Boston College, had six goals and four assists while leading the 9-1 Wreckers to the FCIAC Central Region championship game which was won by Ridgefield, 2-1.
Ambrose was selected to the 2019 All-FCIAC Field Hockey First Team last year after she made the 2018 FCIAC All-West Team as a sophomore. She has collected 20 goals and 15 assists combined during her junior and senior seasons, including 14 goals and 11 assists last year when she helped the Wreckers win their fourth straight Class L state championship with a 4-2 victory over Darien.
This year Ambrose was among four Wreckers selected to the FCIAC All-Central Region Team.
Last year Albrecht was on the All-FCIAC First Team after she racked up 36 goals and 17 assists while helping lead the Norwalk to the Class L semifinals. This year she was one of three Bears selected to the FCIAC All-Central Region Team.
There were 45 total players from the FCIAC who were selected to their respective all-region teams – 15 apiece in each of the three regions.
The 15 players on the FCIAC All-Central Region Team were Krys, the Peters sisters and van Gompel of regional champion Ridgefield; Ambrose, Deveney, Julia DiConza and Jess Leon of Staples, Albrecht, Lia L’Archevesque and Briana Muro of Norwalk; Charlotte Casirachi, Michelle Prario and Abigail Dolan of Wilton; and Danbury’s Harley Hodge.
New Canaan and region champion Greenwich each had five selections while Darien had four on All-West Region Team. Those selections were Lindeis, Mitchell, Shawna Ferraro, Marlee Smith and Megon Lydon of New Canaan; Greenwich’s Lattuada, Gans, Ferrario, Justine Liguori and Jorja Pastore; and Westhill’s Carly Fein.
The 15 selections on the All-East Region Team were the Trumbull half dozen of McCarthy, Socci, Buck, Alannah Fleming, Maura Carbone and Meg Smith; Fairfield Ludlowe’s LaFalce, Izzy Mastino, Lucy Sweeney and Kaili Jacobsen; Fairfield Warde’s Alex DiPierro, Madeleine Goodman and Elizabeth Falterer; and St. Joseph’s Lauren Pleszko and Katherine Fitzgerald.