For the 2nd year in a row, the Staples High School girls soccer team will play in the state final.
And for the 2nd straight year, they face Ridgefield.
Coach Barry Beattie’s 5th-seeded Wreckers earned the right to avenge last year’s 2-1 defeat by knocking off #1 Glastonbury 1-0 Monday night. Both teams completed the regular season undefeated. Staples was 13-0-3; the upstaters, 15-0-1.
The Wreckers’ route to the LL (largest division) title match included victories over 3 Fairfield County Interscholastic Athletic Conference opponents: Fairfield Warde (2-1), New Canaan (2-1) and Trumbull (3-0).
Staples and Ridgefield tied 0-0 earlier this season. The championship game is set for Saturday, 1 p.m. at Fairfield Warde High School.
The Staples girls soccer team celebrates after beating Glastonbury.
But soccer is not the only girls team contending for a Connecticut crown this weekend. The defending state champion field hockey team — ranked 2nd in the L (largest division) #1 Cheshire on Saturday. They face off at Wethersfield High School, at 10 a.m.
Coach Ian Tapsall’s squad — who posted a perfect 16-0-0 regular season mark — advanced to the final with 3 wins: 3-0 against Glastonbury, 1-0 over Norwalk, and 2-1 in an overtime, penalty shot semifinal against Darien.
The Staples High School field hockey team.
Good luck to both teams. Win or lose, you’ve already done us all proud!
Hi Dan,
I thought you did not mention Staples team accomplishments when I wrote about the Boys Cross Country winning the FCIAC and Class LL State Championships….
Did you have a change of heart with Girls Soccer and Field Hockey?
Thanks
Congratulations, GSOCC! So proud of you girls and your tireless work all season long. We’ll be there cheering you on and supporting you one last time on Saturday. I hope loads of Westport fans will show up to do the same, since it’s a local game. And congrats to our field hockey friends, too!
Doug, if you reached out to Dan re the “double” won by the boys’ cross country team, I can attest that he does not frequently do sports stories because he feels that’s something the Westport News covers on a regular basis. I couldn’t even get Dan to write an in-depth piece about the 60th-anniversary celebration of his Staples boys’ soccer program!
And I guess we all might take the success of the cross country team almost for granted because it has been so successful for so long. But the rise of the field hockey and girls’ soccer programs to the top of the state has been very recent and perhaps more “newsworthy” from the perspective of “06880,” especially because there is probably more parity in those sports.
In any case, a terrific accomplishment by all of these Staples teams.
Congrats to both teams for putting such hard work into the season and getting to the finals, so well deserved!!!
The only blemish to the year I see is the oversight of Coach Ian Tapsall as coach of the year . In four seasons Ian has won 2 state titles and now, after going undefeated in the regular season is goIng for his 3rd straight title .There is no doubt to many that he is the best field hockey coach out there and some might agree the best coach in the high school system. Those close to the sport know how absurd it is l that he has been overlooked for for this award. The politics and lack of transparency in this process should be addressed. Needless to say the coach continues to always make it about his girls and never about himself and for no other reason makes him our Coach of the year!
The Staples Field Hockey team for the THIRD YEAR IN A ROW, play for the state championship. Last year they beat their rival Darien after tying them the year before. Despite going undefeated all year and being ranked nationally, their coach Ian, was NOT named coach of the year.
Let’s get many Westporters to the game. These ladies are amazing. GO BLUE!!!!