When the calendar’s September page flipped to the back to be replaced by the October page, that was generally the juncture where FCIAC field hockey teams are about two-thirds of the way through their regular-season schedules.
The quality of field hockey teams in the conference appears to be maintaining its usual lofty standards this 2025 fall season as there are a handful of teams who are having very good seasons.
Consequently, the last third of the regular-season schedules will consist of several strong teams seeking to secure high seedings.
Most of the conference showdowns featuring the top five teams in the FCIAC playing against each other have already been played.
There are still five big head-to-head matchups of those top five teams in the FCIAC standings in the hunt for higher seeds, along with several more key games among teams in the hunt to snatch one of the few final playoff berths for the 2025 FCIAC Field Hockey Tournament which begins Oct. 22.
One of the biggest games among two of the best teams in the state occurs this Saturday (Oct. 4) at noon at Wilton High School’s Tom Fujitani Field where the Warriors host undefeated Staples, the defending champion in both the FCIAC and Class L state tournaments.
Staples and New Canaan both led the way with 16 points apiece in the FCIAC standings as of Thursday, Oct. 2.
Staples was the lone remaining unbeaten and untied team with its perfect 8-0-0-0 record. New Canaan’s Rams had a 7-1-0-2 record, as they compiled their 16 points from getting two points for each of their seven victories and one point for each of their two overtime losses.
Staples has beaten five of the other eight conference teams who were among the top nine in the FCIAC field hockey standings as of Oct. 2, including a 3-2 victory at New Canaan on Sept. 15.
The Wilton Warriors (7-1-1-0) were in third place with 15 points, just one point behind Staples and New Canaan, so their home showdown Saturday at high noon against Staples has become one of the biggest games of the FCIAC regular season.
Out of the top nine teams in the FCIAC standings as of Oct. 2: Staples, Wilton, Darien, Greenwich, Fairfield Ludlowe and Ridgefield were the six teams who had played eight FCIAC games while New Canaan, Trumbull and Fairfield Warde where the three teams who had played nine conference games.
Darien was in fourth place with its 6-1-1-0 record and 13 points.
Greenwich and Fairfield Ludlowe were tied for fifth place with a dozen points apiece and identical 6-2-0-0 records, and that includes Greenwich’s 4-2 victory at home over Ludlowe on Sept. 25.
Trumbull (5-4-0-0) was in seventh place with 10 points, Fairfield Warde (4-4-0-1) was eighth with nine points, and Ridgefield (4-4-0-0) had eight points to round out the top nine teams in the FCIAC standings as of Oct. 2.
The last games of the regular season will be played Oct. 20.
The first round 2025 FCIAC Field Hockey Tournament begins two days later Oct. 22 with four quarterfinal games on the home fields of the top four seeded teams.
The semifinal and championship games are at Greenwich High School’s Cardinal Stadium. The semifinals are the Saturday of Oct. 25 at noon and 2 p.m., and the championship is on Oct. 30 at 5 p.m.
Listed below is a list of the results of the 22 games already played involving matchups of the top nine teams in the standings, followed by the list of 14 upcoming head-to-head matchups involving those nine teams:
Past results
Sept. 2: Fairfield Ludlowe 2, New Canaan 1
Sept. 3: Staples 1, Greenwich 0
Sept. 3: Darien 3, Ridgefield 0
Sept. 5: Staples 4, Trumbull 0
Sept. 8: Greenwich 7, Trumbull 1
Sept. 9: Fairfield Ludlowe 3, Wilton 1
Sept. 11: Darien 4, Greenwich 1
Sept. 13: Fairfield Ludlowe 4, Ridgefield 0
Sept. 15: Staples 3, New Canaan 2
Sept. 15: Greenwich 7, Fairfield Warde 4
Sept. 16: Wilton & Darien tied, 0-0
Sept. 17: Staples 3, Fairfield Ludlowe 1
Sept. 17: Darien 5, Fairfield Warde 0
Sept. 18: New Canaan 1, Ridgefield 0
Sept. 24: Wilton 6, Trumbull 1
Sept. 24: Ridgefield 3, Fairfield Warde 2
Sept. 25: Staples 2, Darien 1
Sept. 25: Greenwich 4, Fairfield Ludlowe 2
Sept. 26: Darien 6, New Canaan 1
Sept. 30: New Canaan 6, Trumbull 1
Sept. 30: Fairfield Ludlowe 7, Fairfield Warde 2
Sept. 30: Wilton 2, Ridgefield 0
Upcoming games
Oct. 3: Fairfield Warde at Trumbull, 5:30 p.m.
Oct. 4: Staples at Wilton, noon
Oct. 6: Greenwich at New Canaan, 4 p.m.
Oct. 6: Trumbull at Darien, 4 p.m.
Oct. 10: New Canaan at Fairfield Warde, 4 p.m.
Oct. 13: Fairfield Warde at Staples, 4 p.m.
Oct. 13: Greenwich at Wilton, 6:15 p.m.
Oct. 13: Trumbull at Fairfield Warde, 4 p.m.
Oct. 16: Fairfield Warde at Wilton, 6:15 p.m.
Oct. 16: Ridgefield at Greenwich, 4 p.m.
Oct. 17: Darien at Fairfield Ludlowe, 4 p.m.
Oct. 18: Trumbull at Ridgefield, 1 p.m.
Oct. 20: Staples at Ridgefield, 5 p.m.
Oct. 20: New Canaan at Wilton, 6:15 p.m.