CIAC: Darien Loses to Warde in Double Overtime

The Darien girls soccer season ended on Monday evening with a 3—1 double overtime loss to Fairfield Warde in the first round of the CIAC state championships,(Connecticut Interscholastic Athletic Conference).

The game was played on Warde's home field since they were the higher seed. In the 28-team tournament, Warde was the sixteenth seed, and Darien was seventeenth.

The Wave opened the scoring after Warde's Sarah Duffy hit the cross bar with an early quality shot. A few minutes later Georgie Highton converted on the Wave's first opportunity when she knocked in a loose ball in front of the goal. Rachel Kanigan assisted, and Darien had a 1—0 lead with 10:43 remaining in the half.

It appeared that Darien would go into the second half with the one-goal lead, but with just over two minutes remaining, Duffy controlled the ball on a throw-in, sending it past Darien goalie Charlotte Phillips for a 1—1 tie. 

Neither team could score in the second half, though Warde got more quality shots. Co-captain Caroline Lutz, on a free kick from about 25 yards out, hit the crossbar (Warde's second cross bar of the evening). In a scramble near the net another Warde shot was just wide, and on a bullet headed for the net, Phillips came up with a big save to keep the score at 1—all. Darien had one good opportunity but couldn't convert.

And so it went in this fast-paced, hard fought game and when the horn sounded it was still 1—1 in regulation time. Play was physical but clean throughout. Darien's Nina Pawelczyk came out with a bloodied nose and was back competing five minutes later. Players from both teams were hitting the turf, but they all bounced back. 

The overtime format included a 10-minute period (not sudden death). If neither team could win it, a second overtime would be played; and if there was still no winner, they would play a shootout to determine the winner.

Neither team scored in the first over time, but in the second, it was Duffy again who got things going. The talented senior co-captain had the ball deep in Darien's territory and on the far left of the goal, when she made a nifty spin move to fight off the defender. What followed was a crisp crossing pass to Kat Young who sent it home from 18-yards out.

Warde led 2—1 with just under seven minutes remaining in the second overtime—still time for Darien to get back in it. But with three and a half minutes remaining, Warde iced the game when Lutz (she was the one who hit the crossbar in the first half) made it a 3—1 game with a long shot that went just under the crossbar.

That's how the game ended, 3—1 Warde; they will play top seed Berlin (16-0-0) in the second round.

"We survived a lot of injuries this season and finishing as a mid-range seed was the result of some good team effort." said Wave coach Jon Bradley. "We're all looking forward to next season."