Playing a powerhouse Darien High School team, there was no quit in Greenwich High School’s girls varsity girls lacrosse squad, despite facing a seven-goal halftime deficit to the Blue Wave at halftime of their game at Cardinal Stadium on April 22nd.

Instead of giving in against Darien, one of the best teams in the entire country, Greenwich played a strong second half, had its moments and held its own in a 13-6 loss to the Blue Wave in an FCIAC matchup.

Senior Anna Von Kennel and junior Adriana Gromelski each recorded hat tricks for Darien, which led Greenwich, 8-1 at halftime, before holding an 11-3 advantage after three quarters of action. Greenwich closed to within 11-6, before Darien tallied twice in the game’s final minute. The Cardinals received goals from six different players in this well-played game, which saw senior attack/captain Giselle DiPietro record one goal and two assists.

DiPietro recently reached the 200-career point milestone. She scored the 100th goal of her Cardinals varsity career during the team’s road game against Pleasantville (N.Y.) High School in the season-opener on April 7.

DiPietro’s 200th career point came in Greenwich’s game against Simsbury on April 9th.

“That was a good game, I think we had a bunch of different goal scorers, that’s a common thing for our team,” said DiPietro, while reflecting back on her 200th career point versus Simsbury. “It’s amazing that 200 points split with goals and assists, it’s something that means a lot and a lot of that can be attributed to my teammates.”

Against Darien, the Cardinals faced a Blue Wave team that is No. 2 in the USA Lacrosse High School Girls’ National Top 25 Rankings with a record of 7-0. Darien is also 3-0 against FCIAC foes so far this season and is also ranked No. 1 in the USA Lacrosse High School Girls’ Northeast Top 25 Rankings.

GHS exited the game pleased with the fact that they rallied to score five second-half goals against the Blue Wave, cutting its deficit to 11-6 in the final quarter.

“That was electric, we’ve honestly been waiting for them to play like that all year,” Cardinals head coach Makenna Warminsky said. “I’m glad that we were able to show up like that.”

Greenwich got one goal apiece from sophomore Claire Campinell, senior captain Dillon McFerran, Giselle DiPietro, senior captain Sophia DiPietro, senior Lindsay Messer, also a captain and sophomore Mary Kate O’Connor versus the Blue Wave.

“To even score six goals, with six different goal scorers with the No. 1 public school in the country is amazing,” Giselle DiPietro said. “Especially coming off a bad loss last year (a 20-0 loss to Darien) I think we really proved who we are.”

Cameron Pokorny, a senior, scored twice, while Lilly Davenport, also a senior had two goals and one assist for Darien, which also received a hat trick from junior Quin Chandler.

Von Kennel had six draw controls and gathered five ground balls, while Gromelski had seven draw controls for the victorious Blue Wave.

Giselle DiPietro posted three draw controls and junior Annabelle DeGennaro had two draw controls for the Cards, who played solid defense against potent Darien, especially in the second half.

“That was the first game that our defense really came together, our offense had a slower start, but we figured it out and we connected at the end,” Warminsky noted.

Messer opened Greenwich’s scoring in the second half, registering a goal 43 seconds into the third quarter, making it 8-2. Pokorny tallied at the 8:03 mark of the third quarter, then O’Connor scored off a catch-and-shoot with 4:27 left in the quarter.

Two straight Darien goals made the score 11-3 in favor of the visitors headed into the fourth quarter. In the final quarter, Greenwich tallied three straight times.

Sophie DiPietro converted a perimeter shot from the right side with 9:53 remaining, Giselle DiPietro scored off a McFerran pass at the 7:43 mark and the Cardinals scored again shortly, cutting the Blue Wave lead to 11-6.

“I’m proud of all of my players against the No. 1 team,” Warminsky said. “I know there were a lot of nerves going into it, especially how we performed last season. It feels to have this confidence moving forward. I’m most proud of our defense and how we came together and I’m proud how we hustled and I think we played the entire game.”

Warminsky and assistant coach Bill Chimento noted that they switched up the defense in the second half, which paid dividends, as the Cardinals were able to play pretty effective defense against Darien.

Greenwich took the positive momentum it gained from its Darien match into its next game versus John Jay High School on Saturday (April 25).

The Cardinals earned a 16-5 win over John Jay for their second victory of the season. So far this spring, the Cardinals have a record of 2-5. They will host Trumbull on Tuesday at 5 p.m., then visit Staples on Thursday at 4 p.m., as they get into the heart of their FCIAC schedule.

“I know our record doesn’t show the amount of talent and hard work on this team,” Giselle DiPietro said after the Darien game. “This game was a positive game and I’m really proud of what we did.”