Staples Scores and Standings: May 24

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Tuesday's FCIAC quarterfinal baseball game New Canaan and Staples has been postponed until Wednesday at 4 p.m. The quarterfinal between Norwalk and McMahon has been postponed until Wednesday at 4 p.m.

With Maeve Flaherty, Staples might have had a chance to beat Darien in the FCIAC girls lacrosse semifinals Monday.

Without their leading scorer, the Wreckers had no shot against the FCIAC's hottest team.

Brynn Gasparino and Dillon Schoem each scored four goals for the Blue Wave, who routed Staples 19-5 at New Canaan's Dunning Stadium to advance to Friday's championship game against Wilton (4 p.m. at McMahon).

The Warriors reached the final with a 14-11 win over New Canaan in Monday's first semifinal.

Ellie Bullit added three goals and four assists for Darien (11-7), which extended its winning streak to seven games.

Flaherty was suspended by the CIAC for trying out for the Under-Armour Under-19 New England Regional team last week.

Although Flaherty did not make that squad, she violated a CIAC rule which prevents participation in any non-sanctioned CIAC event during the season. On Tuesday, the CIAC announced that the nine players from six schools who participated in the tryout camp have had their eligibility restored and will be able to play in the state tournament, which begins next week.

According to one FCIAC official, Connecticut is one of only two states nationwide to have such a policy in place and it actually is being faced out. Of course, that did the Wreckers no good on Monday.

Staples coach Cathy Schager didn't want to speak about the suspension itself, but acknowledged that Flaherty's absence was a huge blow for her team which was appearing in the FCIAC semifinals for the first time in the program's
history.

Not only did the Wreckers miss Flaherty's scoring (51 goals), but they also missed her ability to win faceoffs.

Darien's Emily Stein controlled the majority of the faceoffs, which led to ball possession. In the first half, it seemed the ball was in Staples' end of the field about 90 percent of the time.

The Blue Wave put on a clinic in the first half, racing out to a 6-0 lead 10 minutes into the game. They scored early and often, extending their cushion to 13-4 at the half.

"Clearly, (not having Flaherty) was a gigantic deal," Schager said. "I dropped on these kids at 2:16 (Monday)  that Maeve wasn't going to be playing in the game and I asked them to make a lot of adustments, but there's only so much 16-year-old kids are capable of. We were rattled."

Jessie Ambrose scored two goals while Nikki Seo, Adele Mackey and Elizabeth Driscoll reach added one for the Wreckers (15-2), who lost for only the second time this season.

The Wreckers played a little better in the second half, holding the Blue Wave to six goals.

"I'm telling them to take a lot of pride in the fact that we even got here (to the semifinals)," Schager said. " That was a victory in and of ifself. They (her team) played a great game on Friday (a 15-9 win over Ridgefield in the quarterfinals) to get to this point.

"This is something to walk away with a moral victory but nobody feels really okay with that. It's not sitting right in our stomachs at this point." 

-- The FCIAC baseball pairings were determined after McMahon defeated New Canaan 10-6 Monday.

That result means New Canaan dropped to the No. 5 seed and will play at No. 4 Staples in the quarterfinals on Tuesday. No. 3 McMahon hosts No. 6 Norwalk.

In other quarterfinals. No. 1 St. Joseph hosts No. 8 Greenwich and No. 7 Fairfield Warde visits No. 2 Danbury.

MONDAY'S RESULTS

Girls lacrosse (at New Canaan)

Darien 19, Staples 5 (FCIAC semifinals)

Girls tennis

Greenwich 6, Staples 1

Boys tennis

Fairfield Ludlowe at Staples, ppnd to Tuesday, 4 p.m. (FCIAC quarterfinals)

Girls golf

Staples 191, Trumbull 192, Weston 213 (S--Sarah Wressler 46, Kim Hynes 47, Eliza Duvall 48, Erica Stein 50)

Boys golf

Staples 137, Wilton 174 (S- Andrew Gai 33, Conor Mahoney 33, Stephen Colodny 34, Sam Shaffer 37)

TUESDAY'S SCHEDULE

Baseball

New Canaan at Staples, (FCIAC quarterfinals), ppnd to Wednesday, 4 p.m.

Boys tennis

No. 8 Ludlowe at No. 1 Staples, 4 p.m. (FCIAC quarterfinals)

STANDINGS

• Baseball

Bassick

*- clinched playoff spot

• Softball

• Boys Lacrosse

Fairfield Warde

*-clinched playoff spot

• Girls Lacrosse