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Sports

Daniel Hand Girls Lacrosse Loses State Championship to Darien

Outstanding season ends with 15-5 loss in Class M championship battle; MaryKate McNulty led the Tigers with two goals and Julia Miller, Hannah Morgan and Catherine Chatillon each scored a goal; Coach is proud of their effort "We'll be back"

The second ranked Daniel Hand High girls lacrosse team came into the Class M state championship game against #13 Darien yesterday as the higher seed with a 19-3 record to Darien’s 14-8. But the Tigers were drubbed by the Blue Wave 15-5 at Bunnell High School in Stratford, denying Hand its first state title.

The game can’t be considered an upset because Darien has won 11 state championships, including three of the last four and Hand hasn’t won any. “They’re the kings of Connecticut lacrosse and this was our first finals,” Tigers coach Kevin Siedlecki said. “It was a great experience for Daniel Hand.”

Hand scored the first goal a little more than six minutes into the game, but Darien responded with a four goal flurry in two and a half minutes. Hand scored the next two goals, cutting the deficit to 4-3, but Darien scored three more goals before the first half ended and dominated the second half to secure a ten goal margin.

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The Blue Wave dominated the game offensively and defensively, winning the draws and scoring on fast breaks and creating turnovers that led to additional scores.

“I have a lot of offensive people who can score, that’s been our strength all year,” Darien coach Lisa Lindley said.

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“Possession is the key to the game,” Siedlecki said. “They were getting the draws so it was a little too much on offense and they got their sticks on a lot of shots. There were more goals out there but that was a very aggressive defense, not only in midfield. Their sticks were on our sticks and we couldn’t get our shots off cleanly and when we did get them off their goalie made some plays.”

MaryKate McNulty led the Tigers with two goals and Julia Miller, Hannah Morgan and Catherine Chatillon each scored a goal. The Blue Wave was led by Dillon Schoen with five goals and Ellie Bullit with four.

“The final score didn’t indicate how close it was,” Lindley said. “They were a pretty sharp team, but we did some good things and it was enough to win.”

Hand lost yesterday’s state championship game and the SCC championship to Cheshire this year, but looks ahead. “I’m proud of our effort, we’ll be back again,” Siedlecki said.

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