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Fall 2014 Signing Week coverage

Click here for LaxLessons Tristate Top 100 preseason player rankings

Only one varsity boys lacrosse team team in the NY/NJ/CT tristate region was able to accomplish what Darien did in 2014.

The Blue Wave finished unbeaten.

But DHS’s 23-0 record is not a first in program history. The 2005 Blue Wave also went 23-0.

So you may be surprised to hear this.

Darien will not repeat as Connecticut Class M state champions in 2015.

That’s because Darien has moved up to Class L for this spring. That means it will have to contend with defending state champ Greenwich as well as Fairfield Prep and Ridgefield, among others, in the state tournament.

For a look at this year’s edition of the Blue Wave we turn to one of the tristate’s top midfielders, senior Andrew Pugliese, a versatile player who is especially known for his excellent in the faceoff X.

Pugliese verbally committed this past fall to Boston University, a decision first reported on LaxLessons.com.

Now, here are Andrew’s perspectives on the season.

What have you been doing to get ready for the season?
I did crew in the fall to really jumpstart getting in shape.

Over the winter, I did a lot of strength training and lifting.  Because I take faceoffs, I try and do as many reps as I can every night to stay on top of my game.

I have also been working on adapting to the new college rules.  I go to faceoff clinics when I can and work training other players because it helps my game.

Most of our team has participated in clinics and league play at Sono Fieldhouse over the winter in addition to lifting. We are now starting our preseason.

How does your schedule look, what games are you looking forward to most, and who are some of your scrimmages against?
Our schedule is pretty much the same as last year.  It is always a strong schedule and I think our team looks forward to not only our in- conference rivals like New Canaan and Greenwich, but we all look forward to playing our out-of-conference schedule which includes Niskayuna, Manhasset, St. Anthony’s and Yorktown.

We also have a couple of good scrimmages coming up against Deerfield and Salisbury.

What players on your team do you think will surprise some people this season?
Although we lost a lot of good seniors, we always have talented players coming up behind them who will get a chance to step in and fill those spots.

In addition to our returning starters, some players that have looked really good over the winter are senior defenseman Robby Arrix  and sophomore attackman Kevin Lindley.

We have two goalies hoping to step in for Phil Huffard: senior Philip Rech and sophomore Ryan Cornell and they both have been playing really well.

We also have a strong group of juniors that saw playing time last year and I think they will contribute a lot this season.

What do you think the strength of your team will be this year?
Our team has looked really solid in league play and I think our strength will be our teamwork which really helped us last year.

We have so many players ready to step up and Coach B (Darien Head Coach Jeff Brameier) really stresses playing as a team.

How do you view the race in your league and who do you think some of the contending teams will be?
The FCIAC is always so strong. I think Greenwich will be very good because they are returning a lot of players and New Canaan, Ridgefield and Staples should have very competitive teams this year.

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