Off at the beginning of the week, Greenwich Academy’s Varsity A lacrosse team’s successful week against its Fairchester Athletic Association opponents began Friday when it hosted new neighborhood foe Greenwich Country Day School.

Greenwich Country Day School has competed as a varsity lacrosse team for only several seasons and has a team laden with underclassmen, so when it faced an experienced Greenwich Academy squad on Friday, it was, indeed, a learning lesson for the Tigers.

Ten players scored goals for host Greenwich Academy in its decisive 14-2 win over Greenwich Country Day in an FAA matchup. With the win, GA raised its record to 2-0 in the FAA, a marked it improved upon Saturday by defeating league host School of the Holy Child, 17-7. The Gators have an overall record of 3-2, heading into Monday’s road game against NEPSAC foe Westminster School.

Senior attack/captain Dylan Casazza recorded two goals and two assists and junior attack Eliza Babyak also had two goals and two assists to ignite the Gators’ offense. Casazza, who celebrated her birthday on Friday, did so in style, displaying her dynamic play.

“I think we played a really good game, we came out really strong, which is what we’ve been trying to work on in all of our games,” Casazza said. “We had a tough week of practice and we worked really hard, so I feel that strong start was a result of all the work we did this week and it was awesome.”

Freshman attack Perry Casazza, Dylan’s sister, registered two goals and one assist, junior midfielder Claire Maruszewski scored twice and sophomore Maggie Whidden also tallied twice for GA.

The victors played well in all aspects of the game in the first half and continued their fine performance in the second half. They held a 12-2 lead on Greenwich Country Day after three quarters of action.

“We’ve been focusing on starting strong,” GA coach Halley Quillinan Griggs said. “It’s been something that we’ve been inconsistent in doing this season thus far. But today, we wanted to come out firing on all cylinders and executing.”

Coached by Caitlin Copelan, Greenwich Country Day has an overall record of 2-2 and is 0-2 in the FAA. The Tigers were edged by School of the Holy Child, 12-10, in their FAA-opener.

“I’m super proud of their fight, we’re really, really young,” Copelan said of her squad’s effort. “We have one senior, a couple of juniors and three eighth graders. They came out, they executed well on the offensive end. We didn’t capitalize, but I thought that their overall execution was good and they made some great stops defensively.”

Sophomore attack Ella Wilner and Raela Polanish scored Greenwich Country Day’s goals.

“There is a lot to take away,” Copelan said. “We said if you can do something positive against a GA, then it’s like five positive things against another team. There’s a lot of positives to take away and a lot of things to work on.”

Junior attack Katie Barr (one goal, one assist), Chloe Cook, a junior attack, (one goal), junior defender Lila Cabot (one goal), junior midfielder Chloe Cleaves (one goal), freshman midfielder Eliza DeChristopher (one goal, one assist) and junior attack Anniston Mahaffy (one goal) also paced GA’s offensive output.

“When you’re seeing strong play from so many players top to bottom, you’re happy as a coach,” Quillinan Griggs noted.

Said Dylan Casazza: “It’s so nice to see that as the season is progressing, more and more people are getting confidence and our plays are starting to look really developed. It’s exciting for the rest of the season.”

Casazza also provides leadership as a team captain, along with senior defender/captain Brooke Bertrand. The Gators’ defensive play was sound throughout against GCDS, which has a lot of potential offensively.

“Our defense made stops,” Quillinan Griggs said. “They have some tremendous players, Ella Wilner is going to play at Clemson. She’s dynamic, she’s fast – they have some great athletes. They had some really quality shots. Our defense kind of forced them to low angles and our goalies made the saves that they needed to make.”

Bertrand and seniors Maya Tillman and Grace Martucci were among the defensive standouts for GA in Friday’s lacrosse matchup, while goalies Lily Lyons and Persia Shipman each excelled.

“Both of our goalies played tremendously well,” Quillinan Griggs noted. “They are nicely challenging each other in goal.”

Wilner has been GCDS’ leading scorer through its first several games. Senior Paloma Snisky, Wilner, a junior, Ryan Cassin, a junior, sophomore Caroline Cabrera and sophomore Bianca Amen are Greenwich Country Day’s captains. Freshman Kathryn Weiksner is the Tigers’ goalie.

“We have three eighth graders that start and don’t come off the field,” Copelan said. “We’re pretty injured right now and everybody contributed in a great way. GCDS hosts FAA opponent Hopkins School Monday at 4:30 p.m.

“Our goal is to make the FAA Tournament and get better,” Copelan said. “We are asking a lot of a really young team and to kind of mature quickly and never give up. We have really good leadership everybody  is being super inclusive and it’s a real program effort.”

Besides visiting Westminster School Monday, GA travels to Greens Farms Academy Saturday for an 11 a.m. FAA game.

Greenwich Academy hosts longtime neighborhood rival Sacred Heart Greenwich on April 24 at 4 p.m.