Wave Downs Brunswick in a Monumental Win
The Darien Blue Wave Boys Lacrosse team knocks off the number one team in the country, Brunswick, thanks to Brady Pokorny’s late heroics.
Darien captain Brady Pokorny celebrating a game winning goal with 1.7 seconds left to beat the number one team in the country, Brunswick.
Thursday Night from the DHS Stadium Field, history was made.
Sometimes the David vs. Goliath heroics come true, and that’s what occurred. The Goliath, Brunswick, the number one team in the country, and with recruits from all over the tri-state the Bruins are one of the deadliest teams in the United States. The David, Darien, a public school that is one of just 5 in the national top-25 rankings and currently sits at the 11th rank.
All-time Brunswick led Darien 3-0 in the recent meetings, but Darien was hungry for some revenge.
As fans tricked into the Stadium Field, for this under-the-lights clash, nobody would have expected the outcome.
The Bruins got off to a hot start getting early goals from junior Max Warden and senior Teddy Danforth (man up) in the first 10 minutes. This game was looking almost identical to the Fairfield Prep game in which the Darien offense couldn’t get going in the first twelve minutes.
Darien got the good end of the whistle and was awarded a man-up possession in the later half of the opening quarter. Going on the open set Brady Pokorny fed down low to the freshman Ben Bilodeau who scored his first career goal on the Brown-bound Tucker Williams in net.
2-1 Brunswick after the first quarter of the play.
40th season head coach Jeff Brameier got his Wave rolling entering the 2nd quarter as Darien would spark one of their greatest runs of the young season.
The junior goalkeeper Carter Hagen made a save transitioning the ball to the offense in which junior Briggs McGuckin winded up from long range and sniped a goal on Williams for the equalizer.
The Wave followed this with a pair of goals from juniors Morgan Ruppenstein and Brady Pokorny. As well as seniors Dylan DeRiso and Mac McGahren added a rebound goal for Darien which advanced the lead to 8-3 Darien at the end of the first half.
While the Wave was losing the battle at the faceoff X to Brunswick’s Andrew Greenspan by the score of 13-0 on face-off wins, the Wave found a way to neutralize that aspect of the game. With the abilities and stick work of Hagen in net he made it look easy.
There is a reason that Brunswick is the number one team in the country, and it is for the reason that their offense can explode at any moment.
And just a minute into the second half, the UPenn-bound Leo Hoffman dodged to the cage and exploded the shot for the Bruins goal.
The Wave had an answer to this goal as off a pick McGuckin scored his second goal of the game giving Darien the 9-4 lead in the 3rd quarter.
Using the efforts of Greenspan at the faceoff X, the Bruins were finally able to use the momentum as they went on a 5-0 run to the end of the third quarter with goals from Rick Giordano, Payton Anderson, Jackson Wolfram, and Max Warden made it 9-9 after three-quarters of play.
Brunswick played a brand new ballgame in the final 10 minutes of the third quarter, and they fought back to put the entire game inside the final 12 minutes of the 4th quarter.
Darien junior Brady Pokorny pushed one past Williams to put Darien in double digits and regain the lead for Darien with 10:31 to play.
Greenspan then won his 23rd faceoff on the night and off the win passed it over to the freshman Rick Giordano for Giordano to score his second goal on the night and bring it back to 10-10.
Elliott Lancaster scored another for Darien with 5:50 to play in regulation. Lancaster had the game-winning goal at Rafferty Stadium a week before winning the game for Darien, and just like that Lancaster gave Darien another lead.
Off the goal, Darien won their first faceoff on the night when Jack Silsby laid out to draw the whistle on the Bruins.
Williams made the stop on the Darien shot and got the ball to the Bruin offense. The Duke commit Tomas Delgado on the win rocketed a shot top shelf on Hagen and scored the 11th for the Bruins and the equalizer with 2:04 to play.
Leo Hoffman had a look with 1:25 to play, Hoffman went dodging to the cage and sent the shot on net. Hagen watched as the ball just barely missed the crossbar high, but only by a matter of inches. Possession stayed with the Bruins with 1:20 to play.
On the restart, Payton Anderson had a hole on the pick and went leaping to score for the Bruins. However, the referee in front of the cage waved it off. No goal, no goal.
The referee called a crease violation on Anderson and wiped the goal off the scoreboard. 11-11 still with 0:50 to play.
Jeff Brameier took his final timeout with 21.3 seconds left to play. He gave the ball to his Notre Dame commit Brady Pokorny. Pokorny first had to clear the ball over the 50, then set up the offense to get one last shot before the buzzer sounded.
The whistle blew the play in. Pokorny used the stick movement and cradled the ball into the attacking zone. Burned some time, 10 seconds to work Pokorny started his dodge.
The pressure being applied from the long stick of Spiess, Pokorny threw a shot up from the 30-yard line.
On the run, from downtown, the ball went top shelf, and into the back of the net. Williams missed the ball on his effort, and the Darien junior had scored with just 1.7 left to play.
The late-game heroics from Brady Pokorny gave Darien the 12-11 lead.
And as the final buzzer rang, the Darien student section stormed the field, it was a party in Darien. The first ever win for the Blue Wave against the Bruins in program history, the number one team in the country falling, and Darien was 2-0 on the season.
What a game under the lights of the DHS Stadium Field. Truly an age-old rivalry, David vs. Goliath, Prep vs. Public, Darien vs. Brunswick.
DARIEN 12,
BRUNSWICK 11
Brunswick 2 1 6 2 — 11
Darien 1 7 1 3 — 12
Brunswick: Jackson Wolfram 1g, 3a; Max Warden 3g; Leo Hoffman 1g, 2a; Rick Giordano 2g; Payton Anderson 2g; Tomas Delgado 1g, 1a; Teddy Danforth 1g; Patrick Mullen 1a; Matt Colello 1a.
Darien: Brady Pokorny 3g, 4a; Briggs McGuckin 2g, 1a; Morgan Ruppenstein 2g; Elliott Lancaster 2g; Ben Bilodeau 1g, 1a; Mac McGahren 1g; Dylan DeRiso 1g; Porter Barnett 1a.
Goalies: B – Tucker Williams 7 saves; D – Carter Hagen 15 saves.
Records: Brunswick 4-1, Darien 2-0
Braden is a senior at Darien High School entering his first full year writing for Neirad. Braden can be found at the athletic facilities on the DHS campus...
