insider

dariencel1

NORWALK, Conn. — When Jeff Brameier addressed his team before the bus ride to Brien McMahon High School for the Class L state title game against archrival New Canaan, he made one thing perfectly clear.

“There’s been a lot of build-up to the game, but I took out two photos of the 2005 (Darien) team,” Brameier said. “I told them, that’s the team they’re going up against today.”

That 2005 team, in which assistant coach Craig Madalon was a member, was the only DHS team to finish a season as undefeated state champions. Until Saturday, that is.

That’s when the 2014 Blue Wave defeated New Canaan 10-8 for the second undefeated season and 10th state title in school history.

Before the game was even played, Brameier made something else very clear to his team.

“I told them, win or lose today, you are the best team I’ve ever coached,” Brameier said. “The reason for that is because they are a team — they don’t care about who gets the attention, how many Division I players we have compared to who we play. They play and win as a team.”

It all resulted in a 23-0 record adarienfansnd a storybook finish to a season that followed a 2013 year that ended with losses in the FCIAC and state semifinals. Darien had defeated New Canaan 11-10 in overtime in the regular season and 12-11, also in OT, in the FCIAC semis.

“The hardest thing to do is beat a good team three times, and we did it,” Yale-bound senior goaltender Phil Huffard, who finished with 13 saves. “For Coach B (Brameier) to tell us that this was the best team he’s ever coached means a lot.”

Leading 9-7 with 1:30 remaining, Huffard made a nice stop on a shot by New Canaan junior standout Justin Meichner.

“He’s probably bone of the most successful shooters against me this year,” Huffard said. “I know he likes to go high, so I was looking for it there and stopped it.”

It was a season in which Brameier, in his 31st year as head coach, picked up his 500th career win.

“Some teams we’ve had have been more about ‘me’ – me-ism,” Brameier said. “These guys played together as a team. There were no superstars and not a lot of high-end Division I recruits compared to other teams. They just played as a team.”

New Canaan (17-5) came out strong, jumping out to a 1-0 lead on a goal by Teddy Bossidy. But the Rams struggled offensively for the rest of the quarter, as Darien led 3-1 after the first period.

“We know (Wesleyan-bound senior attackman) Harry Stanton makes their offense go, so we shut him off and threw some different looks at them defensively,” Brameier said.

Stanton finished with two goals. Meichner also had two goals. Virginia-bound Michael Kraus led the Rams with three goals.

Jack Kniffin had three goals for Darien. Navy-bound Ian Burgoyne had two goals and two assists. Colin Minicus and Harry Gillespie each had one goal and one assist. Kyle Cornell and John Reed each had one goal. UMass-bound senior Peter Lindley, who saw a variety of defenses by New Canaan, was limited to two assists.

Stats

Darien 10, New Canaan 10

New Canaan 1-2-1-4   —  8
Darien 3-1-4-2   —  10
New Canaan scoring — Michael Kraus 3-0, Justin Meichner 2-0, Harry Stanton 2-0, Teddy Bossidy 1-0, Kyle Smith 0-1, Cole Turpin 0-1. Darien scoring — Jack Kniffin 3-0,  Ian Burgoyne 2-2, Harry Gillespie 1-1, Colin Minicus 1-1, Kyle Cornell 1-0, John Reed 1-0, Peter Lindley 0-2.

Saves – New Canaan- Trent Nader 8, Darien- Phil Huffard, 13.

Have a recruiting commitment to report? Send an email to info@laxlessons.com, contact Joe Lombardi directly at joe@laxlessons.com or send a Tweet to @Joe_Lombardi or @LaxLessons.

Get in the Zone: The HS Zone

High School Zone: Long Island

High School Zone: Hudson Valley

High School Zone: Connecticut

High School Zone: New Jersey

High School Zone: New York City

High School Zone: Upstate New York

High School Zone: New England

High School Zone: Pennsylvania

High School Zone: Maryland

High School Zone: Canada

High School Zone: Beyond the Northeast

More LAXLESSONS Links

Top 25 tristate preseason team rankings

Top 100 tristate preseason player rankings

Recruiting coverage

* Updated tristate recruiting commitment rundown for Class of 2014

* Updated tristate recruiting commitment rundown for Class of 2015

* Updated tristate recruiting commitment rundown for Class of 2016

* Updated tristate recruiting commitment rundown for Class of 2017

* Class of 2013 commitment rundown by high school/prep school

* Recruiting commitment story archive

* 2012 National Letter of Intent Fall Signing Week story/photo archive

Be a Lacrosse Insider

Apps for iPhone/iPad

* Download for free the new LaxLessons’ playbook Android app in Google play.

* Download for free the new LaxLessons’ playbook iPad/iPhone app in the iTunes store.

* You can subscribe to LaxLessons.com’s playbook, featuring animated drills and plays for your team, by clicking here.

Connect with us

* Follow LaxLessons on Twitter by clicking here.

* Become a Fan of LaxLessons on Facebook now by clicking here.

Subscribe to our free newsletter

Be sure to sign up for our free online newsletter. Just enter your email address on the “Receive Our Newsletter” link on the homepage of LaxLessons.com.

LLPLAYBOOKBANNER2

Posted In: Connecticut

If you liked this article, please take this time to share it with your Facebook friends using the Facebook button (see Facebook post button to the left) or retweet it using Twitter (see retweet button to the left). You may also want to follow us or subscribe to the site to stay up-to-date with this article. If you'd rather follow us from your Facebook account, join our Facebook fan page.

Leave a Reply