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‘They’ve Carried on Our Culture’: New Canaan Girls Lacrosse Beats Darien for CIAC Class LL Title

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It was a lot of déjà vu all over again at Sacred Heart University’s Campus Field on Saturday afternoon. For the third consecutive year it was New Canaan-Darien in the CIAC Girls Lacrosse Championship. The same matchup as it has been for the previous four FCIAC Championship Games. And just like the conference final played 16 days ago, it was the Rams who came away with a five-goal win as New Canaan downed the top-seeded Blue Wave 10-5 to take the Class LL crown. “I am just so happy for this team,” New Canaan head coach Kristin Woods said.

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Tale of Two Halves: New Canaan Girls Lax Falls 20-10 at Rival Darien

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It was the first time the two rivals had seen each other since last year’s classic FCIAC championship game, when Darien defeated New Canaan, 13-12, in triple-overtime. And with both squads coming into Tuesday afternoon’s matchup boasting undefeated conference records, many were hyping it to be a potential preview of this year’s FCIAC final. But after a back-and-forth first half that saw five tie scores and three lead changes, Darien (12-1-1, 8-0 FCIAC) took it to New Canaan (12-2, 8-1 FCIAC) in the second half, scoring ten goals while holding the Rams to one, for a convincing 20-10 victory. “We just stopped playing,” New Canaan head coach Kristin Woods told NewCanaanite.com when asked about her team’s second half troubles. “We played great in the first half. We were poised, aggressive and moving the ball well.

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New Canaan Girls Lax Seniors Lead Team to 15-11 Victory over Ridgefield

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The night opened with a ceremony honoring New Canaan girls lacrosse seniors Mia Carroll, Kylie Murphy, Catherine Granito, Katharine Freiberg and Sami Stewart—a class that has ventured on their journey in the sport and through much of their childhood and adolescence, together. And thanks to hat-tricks from senior co-captains Stewart and Granito and two goals from fellow senior co-captain Murphy, the Rams (10-1, 8-0 FCIAC) notched a 15-11 victory over the previously undefeated Ridgefield Tigers (9-1, 7-1 FCIAC). “The first half we were on fire,” New Canaan head coach Kristin Woods told NewCanaanite.com. “We were a little slow in the first five minutes, which is probably due to there being a lot going on [senior night] pregame. But there’s going to be a lot going on for our upcoming games, too.

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‘The Last Ones Standing’: New Canaan Girls Lax Seniors Forge Lasting Bonds Through Their Sport

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In the spring of 2012, five New Canaan eighth-grade girls played in what they later would call an unforgettable multi-state lacrosse tournament at Yale. The girls—Mia Carroll, Katharine Freiberg, Catherine Granito, Kylie Murphy and Sami Stewart—would end up losing their final game after a last-minute New Canaan travel team penalty allowed Greenwich to tie up the score and force overtime. “It was one of those heartbreaks,” Carroll, surrounded by her four teammates, recalled on a recent afternoon from NCHS varsity head coach Kristin Woods’ office. An interior room on the high school’s ground-floor level, its walls are dotted with newspapers clippings and photos featuring accomplished Rams athletes. “But that season we all became so close with one another and it’s pretty cool that the five of us are the last ones standing.”

That they are.