New Canaan first seized the state’s top ranking after winning the FCIAC championship in late May, then the Rams added a state championship, and soon after were unanimously voted No. 1 in the Final 2022 Top 10 Girls Lacrosse Coaches Poll.
New Canaan, Darien, and Wilton were ranked 1-3 as they were three of the six FCIAC teams in the Top 10.
New Canaan and Darien both earned enough respect on the national level that they were ranked in the top five in the final Nike/USA Lacrosse High School National Top 15. New Canaan was ranked No. 4 and Darien finished fifth. St. Paul from Maryland was No. 1.
Coach Kristin Woods’ New Canaan Rams secured that final No. 1 ranking in the final state coaches poll when they won a 14-13 thriller over Darien in the championship game of the CIAC Class L Girls Lacrosse Tournament on June 11 at Sacred Heart University to finish the season with 15-game winning streak and a 21-2 record.
The conference and state championship results were the only two losses of the year for coach Lisa Lindley’s 20-2 Darien Blue Wave, which was a 15-11 winner at home over New Canaan on April 19 and had a hold on the state’s No. 1 ranking every week until just after that 10-8 loss to New Canaan in the FCIAC tournament final.
New Canaan, which won the Class L state championship for the first time since 2018, received all 13 first-place votes and 130 polling points.
Darien was the two-time defending state champion, having won the previous two Class L titles in 2019 and ’21. The Blue Wave received 117 polling points.
Wilton (16-5) remained at No. 3 because coach Meredith Meyran’s fourth-seeded Warriors advanced to the Class L tournament semifinals, where their season ended with a 13-3 loss to top-seeded Darien.
Guilford (21-1), which won the CIAC Class M Girls Lacrosse Tournament with a 12-8 victory over St. Joseph in the final, received 95 polling points and was ranked No. 4.
Ridgefield (15-6) was ranked No. 5 with 78 polling points and was the fourth FCIAC team in the top five. The 10th-seeded Tigers made it to the Class L semifinals and were eliminated by third-seeded New Canaan, 19-11.
New Fairfield (19-3) was ranked sixth after having won the Class S state championship with a 16-1 victory over Lauralton.
Greenwich (10-5), eliminated by Darien by a 15-2 margin in the Class L quarterfinals, was ranked No. 7.
Newtown (16-3) was ranked eighth and Weston (19-3) was No. 9.
Staples (10-9) was No. 10 as that sixth FCIAC team in the Top 10.
When the votes were compiled and calculated by East Lyme coach Phil Schneider, it ended up that all the teams in the final Top 10 finished in the exact same spots they were ranked in the previous poll released just before the state tournament.
Woods, Meyran and Greenwich coach Tara Clough were the three coaches from the FCIAC among the 13 total coaches who voted on the poll all season.