Greenwich High School’s varsity boys lacrosse team entered its game against FCIAC rival New Canaan on a roll, riding a five-game winning streak, yet the powerful Rams have a way of halting their opposition’s momentum.

New Canaan, which is enjoying a sensational season, stopped Greenwich’s success streak, using a high-scoring second quarter to add another victory to its impressive record.

Seizing a 10-goal halftime lead, New Canaan earned a convincing 18-4 win over Greenwich in an FCIAC matchup at Cardinal Stadium on May 8. The win upped the Rams’ record to 12-1 overall. Greenwich has a record of 7-5 overall. The Cardinals quickly recovered from their loss to the Rams at home and registered a dominating 17-5 triumph over Notre Dame-West Haven on May 10.

In Greenwich’s 12-goal win at Notre Dame-West Haven, senior attack Mikey Brescia tallied six goals and one assist and broke the Cardinals all-time career points record. The record for career points for a varsity boys lacrosse player at Greenwich was 247 and with his six goal, one assist, performance against Notre Dame-West Haven, Brescia now has 249 points.

Against New Canaan at Cardinal Stadium on May 8, Greenwich played a solid first quarter, trailing just 3-1 after 12 minutes of action. New Canaan took the lead for good at 2-1 by scoring a goal with 1:29 remaining in the first quarter.

Junior Cole Campisi, who helped power New Canaan’s attack throughout the game, gave the visitors a 3-1 advantage when he went top shelf with his perimeter shot from 10 yards out and scored with 1:05 to go in the opening quarter.

The Rams pulled away from the Cardinals in the second quarter, outscoring them, 9-1. Senior Christopher Cuesta, Campisi, senior William Sullivan and junior William Wunderlich each had goals in the second quarter, with Wunderlich’s tally giving New Canaan a 12-2 lead. Brescia and junior attack Dean Kim had one goal apiece in the opening half for the Cardinals.

“They are one of the best teams in the country, so you have to bring your ‘A’ game, you can’t make any mistakes,” Greenwich coach Bobby Lutz said. ‘We started the first quarter okay. We started making some mistakes and they capitalized on them fast. We knew we had to play an errorless lacrosse game, which is asking a lot.”

For the game, Brescia had one goal and one assist, senior attack Colin Zeller assisted on two goals, Kim scored one goal and junior Boden Farmer added a goal, as did junior Teddy Johnson for the Cardinals.

Henry Mayock, a senior, Ronan Hillman, also a senior and Cuesta each tallied in the second half for the Rams, who held the possession advantage the majority of the matchup, while displaying strong defensive play when GHS had the ball.

“Against a team like that, they’ll expose you for some of your weaknesses,” Lutz noted. “It was tough, but we battled. They have a great defense. The problem is when they’re winning faceoffs and they have a really good defense and you go down, it’s that much harder to come back.”

Ilan Amaro made four saves in goal for Greenwich, while teammate Jack Hamel, a junior, stopped two shots versus the Rams, who won 15 of the 21 faceoffs that were taken.

“Their offense is good, people don’t give their offense enough credit, because they’re always talking about their defense and their goalies and faceoff, but their offense is great,” Lutz said of New Canaan.

Prior to playing New Canaan, Greenwich earned consecutive victories against Weston, Trumbull, Joel Barlow, Fairfield Ludlowe and St. Joseph.

“It’s a tough loss, but it’s a regular season loss, so it shows you what you have to work on,” Lutz said. “We are going to see all the FCIAC teams again in the postseason. So, you learn and see what happens.”

Lutz was hoping the Cardinals would bounce back when they visited Notre Dame-West Haven on Saturday (May 10) and indeed, they did.

Brescia paced Greenwich’s attack on his way to breaking the program’s point-scoring record, tallying six goals and one assist. Zeller notched four goals and one assist, while Kim recorded a hat trick in the Cards’ 17-5 non-conference road win.

Johnson registered one goal and two assists, senior Chris Marinaccio had two goals and freshman Luke Wysocki added one goal and one assist in the winning effort.

Greenwich bolted out to an 8-0 lead, before heading into halftime with a 13-2 advantage on Notre Dame-West Haven. The Cards added three more goals in the third quarter, then added a tally in the fourth.

Amaro had eight saves in goal for GHS and Hamel posted three saves. The highlight for Greenwich, of course, was seeing Brescia, who celebrated his 18th birthday, breaking the school’s all-time career points record of 247.

Up next for Greenwich is a home game against Westhill High School on May 13. The Cardinals are celebrating Senior Night on May 13 against the Vikings at 6 p.m. at Cardinal Stadium.

Greenwich will then travel to Cheshire High School for a matchup on May 17.

Photos by Antonio Monteiro/06878 Photography: The Cardinals hosted the Rams in FCIAC varsity lacrosse action.

Photos by Antonio Monteiro/06878 Photography: To the left, Greenwich’s Colin Zeller (No. 3) and Mike Brescia (No. 6) in action against New Canaan. To the right, Chris Marinaccio in action for the Cardinals.

For even more pictures from Greenwich’s home game against New Canaan, click on the following link: https://www.06878photography.com/lacrosse—greenwich-high-school-varsity-boys-vs-new-canaan-varsity-boys-at-greenwich-high-school-on