In just a few short months the weather will warm up, the flowers will bloom and spring sports will return to Darien High School. FCIAC and State Champions will look to be won, teams look to defend their hardware and brand new rivalries will be formed in 2023. It’s the biggest spring for Blue Wave Athletics in quite some time and we are here to preview all the action this spring on the fields, diamonds and courts.

Boys Lacrosse

History will be made on April 1st when the Darien Blue Wave Boys Lacrosse team kicks off its 2023 season. For Head Coach Jeff Brameier it will be 40 seasons at the helm of Darien Lacrosse. While the Boys will look to win in this milestone season for Coach B they will also look to avenge a loss to Staples in last year’s state championship. An impressive 14-1 season a year ago from Darien saw the Wave cruise to an FCIAC title and to the CIAC Class L championship, however the clock struck midnight on its storybook season as the Wreckers would bury four goals early en route to a 12-3 upset of Darien. The Wave lost some prominent players in Fogo Tighe Cummiskey, goaltender Cam Weibel and many attackers such as Matt Minicus (CT Player of the year), Finn Pokorny and Joe Cesare. Luckily the Wave returns the Notre Dame bound Brady Pokorny for his third year on the varsity squad. Pokorny will be joined by returning long stick middies Jake WIlson (Loyola – MD) and Mac McGahren (Bucknell). These dynamic players paired up with the sophomore standouts from last year of Briggs McGuckin, Porter Barnett and Wyatt Bowman will add the depth on offense. In between the pipes, junior Carter Hagan will start for his first year in net. After backing up Cam Weibel a year ago, the Loyola bound junior will finally get his shot to start for the Blue and White. 

The Wave has the talent in this 2023 season but with the new FCIAC division realignment the Wave will only play eight FCIAC games, five out of the eight being the power houses in the FCIAC in New Canaan, WIlton, Ridgefield, Staples and Greenwich. So no more will Darien have to play Brien McMahon and Norwalk and Westhill on a yearly basis. This creates new opportunities for Darien to schedule out of conference and out of league competition. And 2023 could very easily be the hardest schedule that Coach B has scheduled in his 40 seasons. April 1st the team opens at Fairfield University’s Rafferty Stadium for a showdown with the Jesuits of Fairfield Prep. Prep has met Darien in each of the last two state semifinals. Followed by game two under the lights of the DHS Stadium, a clash with the number one private school in the state, the Brunswick Bruins. Brunswick has never lost to Darien and these two always meet in a great game. And the schedule doesn’t get any easier, game three on the road at the New York state runner-ups Manhasset, game 5 against the New York Catholic League champions Chaminade. Game six a rematch with Staples. Game eight at South Huntington Beach for a meeting with the St. Anthony’s Friars, who Darien had to score five goals in two minutes to beat a year ago. 

And we are just getting started as that is only half the game. Game nine against Yorktown which Darien beat in overtime last year. Game ten against New Canaan, game eleven against state champion WIlton. Game twelve the first ever meeting between Darien and Mamaroneck New York. Game fourteen a trip to Chatham, New Jersey for a game against Chatham High School and finally game sixteen against Greenwich High School. Wow that was a handful. It’s going to be a long and highly competitive season for the Darien boys lacrosse team in 2023.

Girls Lacrosse

Similar to the DHS Boys Lacrosse team, the girls are stacked with talent and are also taking advantage of the new FCIAC division realignment. The girls have 19 college lacrosse commits, to put that into perspective, there are 22 juniors and seniors on the roster who are eligible to commit to play in college. All-state players Kaci Benoit (Syracuse), Chloe Humprhey (North Carolina) and Ryan Hapgood (Dartmouth) return to command the Darien offense. Humphrey was just recently named the number one high school senior in the country by Inside Lacrosse. The girls also return draw specialists in Sadie Stafford (Duke) and Kate Demark (Virginia). While Darien’s biggest hit will be losing four year starter Shea Dolce to the Boston College Eagles. Darien has two goaltenders looking to fill the big shoes. Junior Hope Shoudel was the backup to Dolce last year and has some experience playing in the big games. Hope is verbally committed to Duke and provides a great stick in the cage. Last years’ JV starter Elizabeth Gonnella will also factor into the mix. A product of the CT Grizzlies travel team and verbal commit to Princeton might platoon time with Shoudel. The girls will open its slate on April 1st on Long Island with a matchup with the Manhasset Indians. Darien also added newcomers Sacred Heart of Greenwich, Summit (NJ), Garden City (was canceled in 2021), the St. Paul School for Girls (MD), Warde Melville (NY) and Massapequa (NY) to the schedule. These matchups in combination with FCIAC rivals Wilton and New Canaan will make up the schedule for the Darien girls lacrosse team. Lisa Lindley will once again be back at the helm for the DHS girls lacrosse team in 2023.

Baseball

The Darien Baseball team will once again hit the diamond this spring. After a struggling 4-16 season a year ago, the Wave will look to end its three year drought of making an FCIAC playoff game. With a huge loss to graduation including all-FCIAC east pitcher Jack Conway. Honorable mentions in outfielder Dan MacLehose, infielder Jake Vairo, and left handed pitcher Billy Batson (to Canterbury) the 2023 edition of Blue Wave Baseball is going to be a giant question mark. On the mound, Ithaca Baseball commit Jack Cunningham will be in the starting rotation with help from fellow seniors Will Smosky and Kevin Bock. Luke Sibilio and Dylan Alini will be senior returners that will contribute a bat to this Darien team. Darien is projected to be a very young squad for the season, last year the Wave’s Freshman team went a perfect 16-0 so it’s safe to assume many sophomores from that team will be playing for head coach Mike Scott and the Wave. Darien opens at home with an out of conference game with the Wilbur Cross Governors (one of the four teams Darien beat a year ago) on April 1st. They will then play New Fairfield, Sheehan, and Stratford twice to round out its out of conference schedule. Darien will once again play every FCIAC team once and hopes for a better record than its 3-12 FCIAC record a year ago. The Wave will look to clean up many errors they made in the field during play in 2022 but most importantly starting from inning number one. The team lost at least five games last season by only a single run, and in most cases they rallied in the seventh to get the tying run in scoring position before stranding them to lose the game. So 2023 has some hope for Darien but as for a roster and baseline to follow, it’s all up in the air.

Softball

Coach DeMaio’s 2023 DHS Softball team has the potential to repeat the magic they had in 2017 when they last won FCIAC’s. Only three players lost to graduation means that Wave softball returns most of the squad they had a season ago. A team that went 9-11 and just missed the FCIAC playoffs by a single game. Darien returns its ace pitcher junior Malin Medeiros who pitched many complete games a season ago. And the captain of the infield returns with senior Brooke Romano returning. Romano, an all-FCIAC honorable mention a season ago, knows how to spark a Darien rally at the plate and make the acrobatic plays in the field. Darien is still a fairly young team with a majority of its players in the sophomore and junior classes so 2023 will again serve as a building block for the team but they have the potential to go quite far into June. The girls open its campaign on April 1st at home for an out of conference meeting with the Sharks of Sacred Heart Academy. They will then meet Guilford, Wilton and Ridgefield to close out its out of conference part of the schedule. While Darien might not be able to compete with the state’s finest teams in Fairfield Ludlowe, St. Joseph and Danbury, the Wave can compete with the majority of the pack as they look to chase an FCIAC playoff spot and a great season on the diamond in 2023.

Boys Volleyball

Shifting our attention to the hardwood, the Darien Boys Volleyball team will be back to work in the spring. Coming off a perfect 2022 in which the team only dropped a single set all season winning the FCIAC and state titles. The CT Volleyball MVP Trevor Herget will return for his senior year and look to build off his 476 kills, 199 aces, and 202 digs season. Aiding Trevor will be his fellow all-state setter Griffith Crouse back for his junior year. Grif racked up 788 assists in 26 matches, an average of 30 per contest a year ago. The two make a pretty good one-two punch. Darien will enter play having won its last 49 contests dating back to 2019. They fell in the state championship to Staples on June 6th, 2019, that was the last time Darien lost a match. The Wave will also be looking for a four peat in the FCIAC conference. Darien opens play on April 5th against out of conference opponent Farmington. Darien will then meet Shelton twice, Cheshire, New Canaan and Trumbull for its out of conference affairs. The Wave will once again be led by veteran head coach Laurie LaRusso. LaRusso, fresh off the perfect season with the DHS girls team in the spring and recipient of the FCIAC girls volleyball coach of the year, is ready for another spring with the boys!

Boys Tennis

On the tennis court there is something brewing for John DeFilippo and his Wave. Darien won the class L crown by a landslide over New Canaan 6-1 en route to a state championship. The boys however fell short in the FCIAC semifinals to eventual FCIAC champs Westhill. But with many powerhouse players around the conference and state gone, 2023 is the year for the Wave. At singles one the Franklin and Marshall commit Sam Donnelly will look to continue his dominant streak. Only losing a sole  match a year ago. Joining Sam on the singles lines will be the Holy Cross bound tennis player Teddy Callery and the Denison commit Kyle Patrick returning to the roster. Donnelly and Callery both all-FCIAC honorees for the Wave. On the doubles side, Will Donnelly, the all-FCIAC first team, will manage the singles one line with his new partner this season. Ryan Benoit is another returning junior for the wave who will platoon at different positions but look to pick up the match wins for Darien. With many key games on the schedule including Staples, New Canaan, Greenwich and the rematch with Westhill, it’s the Waves year in 2023. They open against Norwalk on April 10th.

Girls Tennis

Shifting to the girls side of the net. Darien completed the two-peat in the FCIAC conference and also won the Class LL state crown with the perfect season. The girls also returned its singles one with Lauren Zhang. Zhang won the CIAC state singles open a year ago and did not drop a match last year. On singles two, Sarah Donnelly manages the position and like Zhang went flawless in 2022. Sarah fell in the semis of that same State open tournament but still earned all-FCIAC honors. On the doubles end, Darien graduated the likes of Juliette Johnson and Catherine Rolapp but returned the singles one squad of seniors Grace Althoff and Ava DeCastro. Both earned all-FCIAC honors a year ago. Darien will have a senior heavy squad in 2023 but one that has the veteranship to make yet another run come championship season. The girls scrimmage the Hotchkiss School at home on April 5th before traveling to Norwalk for the season opener on April 10th.