On a windy, rainy night inside Rafferty Stadium on the campus of Fairfield University, the Darien Blue Wave met the Fairfield Prep Jesuits to open the 2023 High School Boys Lacrosse season.

The Jesuits started the season hot, with senior captains Tyler Rox and Peter Grandolfo putting up two early goals for Fairfield Prep. After the first twelve minutes of play, Fairfield Prep led Darien 2-0. Junior goaltender Carter Hagen made numerous saves in the first quarter, and this would be just the start of a big game for the Loyola-bound goalie.

Darien would finally get on the bound two minutes into the 2nd quarter. Junior Morgan Ruppenstein made a nice move and went top shelf beating Barry for the score. The score now moved to 2-1 Prep.

This was the time that senior Dylan DeRiso would strike for his first goals of the season. The senior receiving his first career start Saturday night would score not once but twice to propel Darien to a 3-2 lead halfway through the 2nd quarter.

Darien kept on rolling as junior captain Brady Pokorny got on the board. Spinning through coverage, taking a shot that fooled Barry for the score. The Wave started up and had no sign of looking back.

Almost immediately after a face-off win from Leo Barbagallo and the Wave, freshman Max McBride went driving up the lane and took his shot on Barry, the ball found the net, and McBride had career goal number one.

Junior Briggs McGuckin would add yet another for Darien, the Wave entered the halftime locker room with a 6-2 lead after outscoring the Jesuits 6-0 in the second quarter.

Fairfield Prep came out of the halftime locker room surging. Back-to-back goals from Maddux Little cut the lead down to 6-4.

The Jesuits were not done, Tyler Fox fielded a ground ball and scored on the stick side of Hagen to cut the deficit down to one.

To this point, all 11 goals were scored on the left side of the field, and Darien was watching as their lead was slowly falling apart.

A minute late the legend of Fox struck the Wave again as Tyler had netted goal number three and Prep’s equalizer. For the second time in the game, Darien went on a 10-minute scoring drought.

Luckily for Darien, with under a minute left, Morgan Ruppenstein had some late magic and regained the lead for Darien at the end of the third quarter.

The back-and-forth battle continued as the scoreboard read 7-6 Wave at the end of three.

The fourth quarter shined the spotlight on Darien’s goalie Carter Hagen as he was twelve minutes away from the first win in 2023.

Brady Pokorny would give Darien some insurance with his second goal on the night and Darien’s eighth.

Although as the classic story has been told, you can never count Fairfield Prep out of the game. Little and Grandolfo added scores for Prep to tie the game at eight with 2 minutes to play.

The two-minute drill ensued for Darien, and it ended with junior Elliott Lancaster getting a look on the net. Lancaster winded up on the shot and netted one past Barry for the go-ahead goal.

All that stood between Darien and the victory was two minutes and a surging Prep offense.

Carter Hagen stepped up to the challenge and made stop after stop turning away the Jesuits.

Fairfield Prep had one final look to send the game to overtime with 15 seconds left in regulation.

Prep gave the shot to senior captain and 2022 all-American Marco Firmender. Firmender winded up on the wrist shot and shot it on net. Hagan put the big spoon up to the ball, and with the water droplets flying off his stick he made the stop. Hagen had possession and cleared the ball for the Darien win.

The Hail Mary attempt from Prep saw a final shot, but Carter Hagen stepped up to the mission and turned away the Jesuits.

Carter Hagen was the MVP of this game for Darien. Making a remarkable 21 saves en route to Darien’s first victory of 2023.

A huge win for the Wave as they started the season 1-0. Darien now welcomes in Brunswick on Thursday for a clash with the number 1 nationally ranked Bruins.

DARIEN 9,

FAIRFIELD PREP 8

DARIEN 0 6 1 2 — 9

FAIRFIELD PREP 2 0 4 2 — 8

Scoring:
D—Morgan Ruppenstein 2g 1a, Brady Pokorny 2g 1a, Dylan DeRiso 2g, Max McBride 1g 1a, Briggs McGuckin 1g, Elliott Lancaster 1g, Porter Barnett 1a

FP—Tyler Fox 3g, Maddux Little 3g, Peter Grandolfo 2g, Brendan Mullahy 2a, Tim Shannehan 2a, Luke Lombardo 1a.

Goalies: D – Carter Hagen (21 saves); FP – Matt Barry (5 saves). Shots: D – 33; FP – 33.

Records: Darien 1-0; Fairfield Prep 0-1.