Brunswick School senior Aidan Diaz-Matos was Mr. Perfect during the Bruins’ much-anticipated lacrosse showdown against rival Darien High School before a big crowd at Cosby Field on April 26.

Diaz-Matos achieved perfection for the Bruins, going a spectacular 20-for-20 on faceoffs, while reaching a milestone in the process, recording his 500th career faceoff win against the visiting Blue Wave. His outstanding effort on the faceoffs helped power Brunswick to a 12-7 victory over Darien in a matchup involving two nationally ranked teams.

“They threw a bunch of guys at me and I just stuck with what I know and faced off how I know,” said Diaz-Matos, who will continue his lacrosse career at Notre Dame next season. “I knew I had to get out quickly, I knew these guys were going to jump me right away after the faceoff win. So, I made sure I got out quickly and got the ball to the offense.”

All of those wins at the faceoff X gave the Bruins extra possessions, enabling them to light the scoreboard with more goals. Junior midfielder Rick Giordano scored a game-high four goals, junior attack Lucas Garcia recorded a hat trick and senior attack Emmett Meagher tallied twice for the Bruins, who have won six straight games and are 10-2 on the season.

“We kind of knew Darien always plays their best game against us, so we came in the first half expecting it to be a close game,” Garcia said. “The second half it was a close game and it lit a fire in our eyes.”

The Bruins held a 3-1 lead on the Blue Wave after the first quarter of play, then entered halftime with a tight 5-4 advantage.

“Darien lacrosse is a long, long tradition and we’re glad we have a game with them every year,” said Brunswick coach David Bruce, whose Bruins beat Darien in 2024, 12-6. “We’re lucky to come out on top in the majority of the last few. It’s always a fun battle, the guys know each other and I’m proud of our guys for grinding it through.”

Darien (5-3) received two goals from junior attack Ryan Thurlow and 17 saves from senior goalie George Persinger, who was kept busy throughout. Junior goalie Will Connell made 15 saves for the Bruins, who were sparked defensively by seniors John Buttafuoco, Patrick Hiebert, Tucker Spiess and junior Ryan Baxter.

“We were fired up, we always know that whenever we play Darien they’re going to bring their best,” Buttafuoco noted. “So, coming out of this game we had to come off early to a hot start, or we would fall behind. It all comes down to grit, who wants it more at the end of the day.”

Goals from Meagher and a pair of tallies by Garcia gave the Bruins a 3-1 first quarter advantage. The Blue Wave went on a three-goal spurt to go ahead, 4-3, late in the second quarter. Senior midfielder Connor McNamara got inside and scored from close in, giving Darien a 4-3 edge with 4:49 remaining in the second quarter.

The hosts responded with a goal from freshman Sawyer Bligh, who tallied in transition off a Blue Wave turnover, knotting the score at 4-4. Giordano converted a shot from 10 yards out, giving ‘Wick the lead for good at 5-4 at the 2:10 mark of the second quarter.

“I thought we played well in the middle of the field and caused a lot of turnovers,” Bruce said. “We gave our offense a number of chances.”

Diaz-Matos especially gave the Bruins extra opportunities to run their offense against Darien’s zone defense, winning faceoff after faceoff.

“Obviously, when you have Aidan Diaz-Matos it’s an advantage – it was his first perfect game on faceoffs – he was 20 for 20, which is quite a feat,” Brue noted. With us creating turnovers and him winning faceoffs in the middle of the field, we got a lot of offensive opportunities.”

Brunswick, which entered the game ranked ninth in the USA Lacrosse High School Boys National Top 25 Rankings, has been a second half team all season and has especially excelled in the third quarter. Such was the case against the Blue Wave, as the Bruins outscored the visitors, 4-0, in the third quarter to open a 9-4 lead.

“It was a great win, it was close at the start, but we were expecting that,” Spiess said. “We went back into the locker room, we were up by just one, but our coaches do a good job of settling us down, calming the nerves and keeping us confident. We go out there with that confidence that the coaches give us.”

Giordano scored off a pass from Garcia, putting the Bruins on top, 6-4, with 8:12 to go in the third quarter. Garcia scored on a fastbreak at the 7:31 mark of third period following another Diaz-Matos faceoff win, making it 8-4. Freshman attack/midfielder Hunter Hanford show low and scored, giving ‘Wick an 8-4 advantage with 3:05 left in the third period.

Forty two seconds later, Meagher tallied off a pass from freshman Parker Baras, who registered two assists, capping the Bruins’ decisive third quarter.

“When we’re in that locker room talking at halftime, kids are still getting fired up, they’re not there to relax,” Buttafuoco said of ‘Wick’s strong second half. “They know we still have another whole half left. So, we have to go out there and play our best.”

Indeed, Brunswick raised its level of play offensively and defensively as their duel with Darien progressed.

“Darien is always a tough team, especially against us, I remember our coaches said before the game, we always get their best,” Brunswick senior attack/midfielder Owen Iles said. “This was a big game for us, a big game for them. They were in the zone in the beginning, it was giving us a little bit of trouble and at halftime our coaches all knew what to do to help us succeed. We came out strong in the third and pulled away from there.”

Garcia scored two more goals in the fourth quarter, while junior Matt Colella added a goal off an assist from Baras, sealing the victors’ scoring. Ben Bilodeau, Henry Jeffers, Jack Marscia, Connor McNamara and Wes Scallen each had one goal for Darien, which was well challenged by Brunswick’s defense.

“The key was taking advantage of the offensive opportunities,” Spiess said of the Bruins’ stellar second half. “We’ve got a good faceoff guy and we knew he was going to win us those possessions. That definitely helps. On defense, we took advantage of our matchups with the attackmen and we just went to work on them.” 

Diaz-Matos now has 501 career wins as a member of the Bruins.

“We know them, they know us, it’s always great competition between the two,” Diaz-Matos said of facing Darien. “We have a bunch of guys from Darien and it’s always a great battle between two great teams from Connecticut and it’s always a great time to play. It’s a great rivalry.”

Said Garcia: “The last five games have kind of been blowouts for us, so to have an opportunity to play a game like this with this kind of emotion was huge for us and we came out flying.”

Brunswick hosts Staples on May 1 at 6:30 p.m., then travels to Westminster School April 3.

“The beginning of the season we had a gauntlet of games, but the season is far from over, we’ve got a lot of tough teams left, so hopefully, we can finish at our peak,” Iles said. “I think we get better every game. We see something new every game and I’m really excited about this team and I think we’re going to end the season really strong.”

“We’ve built a great identity this year and we have racked up some great wins,” Spiess said. “We’ve learned from the losses too and we just have to keep the intensity going every game.”

Photos by Antonio Monteiro/06878 Photography: Brunswick’s lacrosse team in action versus visiting Darien.

Photos by Antonio Monteiro/06878 Photography: To the left, Patrick Hiebert gets ready to gather a ground ball for the Bruins. To the right, Tucker Spiess in action on defense for the Bruins against the Blue Wave of Darien.

Photos by Antonio Monteiro/06878 Photography: To the left, Aidan Diaz-Matos of Brunswick in action. To the right, the Bruins battle for possession against Darien at Cosby Field.

For plenty of more pictures from the Brunswick-Darien lacrosse game, click on the following link