It has basically been an annual rite of fall over these past handful of years.
It was another fall season in which Darien and Staples again had the two best teams in the state.
The continued excellence of those two programs along with some very good seasons from a few more solid conference teams gave further confirmation of just how strong the Fairfield County Interscholastic Athletic Conference is in the sport of field hockey.
For the third consecutive season, Darien and Staples once again advanced to the finals for yet another pair of showdowns in the championship games of the 2025 FCIAC Field Hockey Tournament and the Class L state tournament.
And it was Darien which came out on top and copped conference and state tournament titles this season, beginning with winning one of the best FCIAC championship games ever. Staples was the defending champion in both tournaments.
Coach Mo Minicus’ Darien Blue Wave advanced to the FCIAC tourney final for the fifth consecutive year and has copped four conference crowns in that stretch.
The Blue Wave beat New Canaan in 2021, then won two straight against Staples before Staples dethroned Darien in last year’s rematch.
Coach Ian Tapsall’s Staples Wreckers had defeated Darien in the 2023 and ’24 Class L state championship games.
So strong was the quality and depth of so many very good FCIAC players this year that GametimeCT selects 36 players to a variation of three all-state teams – 12 each on the first team, a second team, and honorable mention – and exactly half of the players were made up of the combined 16 players from the FCIAC.
Darien’s star senior captain Anna Duarte scored the game-winning goals in both the FCIAC final and the championship game of the 2025 Connecticut Interscholastic Athletic Conference Class L Field Hockey Tournament.
Duarte would later be selected as the state’s Player of the Year while leading a group of seven FCIAC players on the 2025 GametimeCT All-State Field Hockey First Team of a dozen players.
Duarte was joined on that all-state first team by Darien teammates Shannon Bock and Adriana Gromelski, both juniors; Staples seniors Paige Knesich and Mary Stevens; Greenwich senior Julia Lattuada and Fairfield Ludlowe’s superb sophomore midfielder Lily McClay.
Duarte, Bock, Gromelski, Knesich, Stevens, Lattuada and McClay all earned the highest levels of the all-conference and all-state postseason awards.
Prior to being selected to the GameTimeCT all-state first team, those seven players were picked to the 2025-26 All-FCIAC Field Hockey First Team and the Connecticut High School Coaches Association All-State Team.
Ella Ledenko and Leah Larit of Staples, Greenwich’s Emilia Arroyo, Fairfield Ludlowe’s Coco Biggs, and New Canaan’s Cara Passios were the conference’s five players who made the 12-player GametimeCT All-State Field Hockey Second Team after they were chosen to the 19-player All-FCIAC First Team.
Tess Hellweg-Lyons of Westhill and Wilton’s Clara Fielden each made both the All-FCIAC First Team and GametimeCT All-State Honorable Mention.
The other five players on the All-FCIAC First Team included Juliette Ring and Liza Fogelson of Wilton, Ridgefield’s Alex Whitbeck, Fairfield Ludlowe’s Eliza Severud, and New Canaan’s Reagan Celiberti.
Clara Ojea Quintana of Greenwich made the All-FCIAC Second Team and GametimeCT All-State Honorable Mention, while New Canaan’s Anna Hering was the fourth FCIAC player who was GametimeCT All-State Honorable Mention.
The other players on the 2025-26 All-FCIAC Second Team were Ava Welch, Athena Ogle and Sophie Beach of Darien; Catherine Cirasuolo, Daisy Hackett and Ava Pattinson of Staples; Greenwich’s Niene Boezen and Carlota Lopez; Ridgefield’s Lyla Sambus and Katie Dickinson; New Canaan’s Bella Caamano and Jane Carroll; Wilton’s Arden Taubin and Casey O’Connor; Brien McMahon’s Grayson Farnum; Stamford’s Anne Leydon; Fairfield Ludlowe’s Catherine De Meneses; Fairfield Warde’s Maggie Ward; and Danbury’s Brooklyn Testa.
Defending FCIAC and state Class L champion Staples had a perfect 14-0-0-0 record in the regular season to finish in first place with 28 points and earn the top seed in the conference tournament.
Teams were awarded two points for a win and one point for a tie or an overtime loss. Darien finished second and earned the No. 2 seed with 25 points via its 12-1-1-0 record.
Wilton (11-2-1-0, 23 points) got the No. 3 seed and the other five teams in the conference tournament were Fairfield Ludlowe (11-3-0-0, 22 points), New Canaan (10-2-0-2, 22 points), Greenwich (10-3-0-1, 21 points), Ridgefield (8-6-0-0, 16 points), and Trumbull (7-7-0-0, 14 points).
Staples improved to 7-0-0-0 in the FCIAC on Sept. 25 with a 2-1 victory at Darien as the host Blue Wave dropped to 3-1-1-0 with that loss. Darien and host Wilton played to a 0-0 tie Sept. 16.
Top-seeded Staples, No. 2 Darien, No. 4 Ludlowe, and No. 6 Greenwich all won in the opening quarterfinal round on Oct. 22.
Larit had two goals and two assists to lead Staples to its 7-0 victory over Trumbull. Darien shut out No. 7 Trumbull, 2-0. Greenwich won the shootout by a 4-3 margin in its 3-2 victory over No. 4 Wilton. Ludlowe nipped No. 5 New Canaan, 2-1.
In the FCIAC tournament’s Oct. 25 semifinal doubleheader at Greenwich, Hackett and Stevens each scored a pair of goals to lead Staples to its 4-1 victory over Ludlowe and Darien advanced to the championship with a 3-0 victory over Greenwich.
Duarte scored Darien’s only goal in regulation in the FCIAC championship game and she would later be the only player from both teams to convert her penalty stroke in the shootout to secure Darien’s championship.
Duarte staked Darien to the early 1-0 lead in the first quarter before Hackett scored the game-tying goal for Staples on an assist from Stevens with 13:30 remaining in the fourth quarter and prior to a scoreless overtime session.
Coach Minicus had the benefit of having excellent performances in goal from a pair of Darien goalies. Starter Ella Cherenek made several solid saves in regulation, and Tess Hageney was so stellar in thwarting all five Staples shots in the shootout that she was selected as the Most Valuable Player of the championship game at Brien McMahon High School’s Jack Casagrande Field on Oct. 29, 2025.
Seventeen days later Duarte scored the game’s lone goal late in the first half when the third-seeded Blue Wave dethroned two-time defending champion and top-seeded Staples with 1-0 victory in the 2025 CIAC Class L Field Hockey Tournament final on Nov. 15 at Wethersfield High School.
Darien shut out all four of its opponents and outscored them by a margin of 14-0 in the state tourney. The Blue Wave played in all four rounds while Staples drew a bye into the second round as the No. 1 seed.
Darien opened with an 8-0 victory over 14th-seeded Newtown and advanced to the semifinals with a 4-0 victory over No. 6 Greenwich.
Larit helped the Staples Wreckers advance to the final when she converted the winning goal in the shootout for the 2-1 victory over No. 4 seed Fairfield Ludlowe in the first game of the Class L semifinal doubleheader at Brien McMahon’s Jack Casagrande Field on Nov. 11 and that game was followed by Guiliana Franchetti scoring the only goal in Darien’s 1-0 victory over No. 2 seed Wilton.
So, the top four seeds were all FCIAC teams who advanced to the final four, the conference had seven of the eight teams in the quarterfinals, and when the state Class L tournament concluded the eight participating FCIAC teams had a combined 13-7 record for a winning percentage of .650 and the conference was a perfect 6-0 against non-conference opponents.
Darien and Staples, obviously, were ranked 1-2 in the final coaches Top 10 state poll.
The FCIAC had four teams ranked among the top eight as Fairfield Ludlowe was ranked No. 5 and Wilton was No. 8.