It is another one of those spring seasons in boys’ lacrosse in the FCIAC with the conference having many very good teams.
One thing is certain about the FCIAC. Whatever week it is, most of the top teams can usually count on having at least one big game in just about every week.
Such is the case every year, and especially this year, with a perfect example of that being the latest GameTimeCT Top 10 Boys Lacrosse Poll which was released April 17. The FCIAC has four teams ranked among the top five and seven ranked among the top nine.
A pair of big showdowns last Saturday involving the conference’s four highest-ranked teams in the previous poll resulted in a good bit of shuffling up and down the upper half top of this week’s poll from last week’s poll.
New Canaan headed northbound to play host Ridgefield at Tiger Hollow, the Rams headed back home having earned their hard-fought 10-9 victory, and that led to New Canaan moving up one spot from the previous poll to become the new No. 1 team.
The path to No. 1 opened for New Canaan because of the result of that other big Saturday afternoon game when Darien’s host Blue Wave, ranked No. 4 at the time, defeated top-ranked Staples, 7-4.
So New Canaan moved up from No. 2 to No. 1, Darien moved up one spot to No. 3, Staples dropped down to No. 4 and Ridgefield remained at No. 5.
Fairfield Prep moved up a spot and is now the second-ranked team behind New Canaan.
New Canaan (7-0) received 10 of the 12 first-place votes and 117 polling points from the group of voters consisting of mostly media members and five coaches. Each voter ranks their own top 10 teams in order and points are calculated on a 10-9-8-7-6-5-4-3-2-1 basis.
Second-ranked Fairfield Prep (6-1) and No. 3 Darien (4-2) each received a first-place vote. Prep’s 103 polling points were just three more than Darien’s 100.
Fourth-ranked Staples (3-2) had 82 polling points and No. 5 Ridgefield, that fourth FCIAC team among the top five, was just four points behind with 78 points.
Cheshire (5-1) is ranked No. 6 and followed by a trio of FCIAC teams, No. 7 Wilton (4-2), No. 8 Greenwich (4-2), and No. 9 Fairfield Ludlowe (4-2).
Glastonbury (3-3) completes the Top 10.
St. Joseph (3-3) is the one FCIAC team among the five teams statewide in the “Others Receiving Votes” category. One voter ranked St. Joseph’s Cadets 10th so they received one point.
So, it’s another week of a few more big matchups of FCIAC teams which are naturally vital toward eventually determining the seeding positions for the conference and state tournaments.
Three of them were scheduled for Thursday (April 18): No. 8 Greenwich at No. 1 New Canaan at noon, No. 5 Ridgefield at No. 3 Darien at 3 p.m., and No. 7 Wilton at No. 4 Staples at 5:30 p.m.
New Canaan travels to Fairfield Prep on April 25 for a Thursday night showdown with a 6 o’clock opening faceoff.
Listed below are the 13 matchups for the remainder of the regular season involving the seven FCIAC teams ranked among the top nine in the current state poll:
April 18 – Greenwich at New Canaan, Ridgefield at Darien, Wilton at Staples.
April 23 – Greenwich at Fairfield Ludlowe.
April 25 – Ridgefield at Wilton.
April 27 – Darien at New Canaan, Staples at Greenwich.
May 2 – New Canaan at Staples, Darien at Wilton, Ridgefield at Greenwich.
May 9 – Wilton at New Canaan.
May 11 – Darien at Greenwich, Staples at Ridgefield.