After losing in convincing fashion to Staples, the Greenwich High School boys lacrosse team was determined to produce a better performance against FCIAC rival Ridgefield this past Thursday at Cardinal Stadium.

The Cardinals did just that, though their effort didn’t result in a win.

Ridgefield jumped out to a 6-1 lead and played from in front throughout in posting a 10-6 win over host Greenwich on May 2. The loss put Greenwich’s overall record at 6-6, which they improved upon on May 4, when non-conference opponent Fordham Prep visited Cardinal Stadium. The Cardinals topped the Rams, 16-5, to raise their record to 7-6, heading into Tuesday’s Senior Night game versus FCIAC foe Norwalk.

Against Ridgefield, junior attack Mikey Brescia recorded one goal and two assists, while junior attack Conrad Burki and sophomore attackman Dean Kim registered two goals apiece for Greenwich.

The Tigers had a five-goal halftime lead, then scored the first goal of the second half to open a 7-1 advantage.

However, GHS worked its way back into the game, getting goals by Burki and senior Jimmy Flinn to pull to within 8-5 of Ridgefield with 2:27 remaining in the fourth quarter.

The hosts entered their matchup against Ridgefield off a disappointing 13-3 defeat at the hands of Staples.

“It was a great second half, we let them get out to a pretty big lead, so I’m really proud of how the defense played after Staples,” Greenwich coach Bobby Lutz said. “The defense did a good job. I think we definitely righted the ship a little bit and I’m proud with how they played. We’re heading in the right direction.”

Ridgefield, which has a record of 9-3 on the season, received three goals apiece from senior Kyle Colsey and junior Desmond Couri. Levi Kessler and Brandon Gmelin also sparked the Tigers with clutch goals.

“The defense did an excellent job implementing the game plan and held Kyle Colsey to only one goal until he had two open-netters at the end when we were doubling, but they have other quality players who can get the job done,” Lutz noted.

Ilan Amaro made five saves, while teammate Jack Hamel stopped three shots for Greenwich, which received seven faceoff wins from senior Lane Critchell, one of the Cardinals’ captains.

“The second half was definitely better, it was kind of a tough game from the start going down like that, but I was impressed with our resolve and how we never gave in,” Lane Critchell said. “I’m excited to go back to the drawing board and figure out what we can work on.”

“That was the big thing from Staples, where we kind of gave in during the second half, today (Ridgefield game) we didn’t give in, so there’s definitely some stuff we need to clean up offensively, defensively,” Critchell continued. “But overall, the mentality and where our team’s headed, I’m very pleased with that. It’s only up from here.”

“Overall the defense played really well, the defense had a plan and I thought they executed it really well,” Critchell said. “The offense had a bunch of great looks, their goalie had some great saves, so credit to him. The good news is we got the looks we just have to convert them.”

In Greenwich’s 16-5 triumph against visiting Fordham Prep on Saturday, Burki posted four goals and three assists, while Boden Farmer recorded three goals and one assist and Zeller and Flinn had hat tricks. Brescia added one goal and one assist, Teddy Johnson had a goal, as did GHS teammate Mateo Suppo and Jake Duda, Andrue Borrel, Chris Marinaccio and George Weiksner each assisted on a goal in the winning effort against Fordham Prep.

“They immediately jumped out on us, scoring three in the first several minutes, but then we tallied 14 unanswered goals and held them scoreless for the next 40 minutes,” Lutz noted. “The defense quickly adjusted and picked up where they left off from the second half against Ridgefield.”

“We finally won the ground ball battle, something heavily emphasized in practice, so it was great for the boys to see that the extra work immediately paid off,” Lutz continued. “LSM Adam Kim was the player of the game and once again dominated the middle of the field.” 

Amaro made six saves, as did Hamel for Greenwich. Critchell had eight faceoff wins, while Dylan Botoff had five for the victors. Burki, a first-season GHS player, is second on the team with 26 goals in 10 games.

Up next for Greenwich is its Senior Night game against Norwalk on Tuesday at Cardinal Stadium at 6 p.m.