Stingy defense helps Weston to first SWC title in 10 years

NEWTOWN — It has been four weeks since Weston’s boys lacrosse team has given up double-digit goals. It has been three weeks since the Trojans gave up more than five. Not since the regular season did they give up that many. After surrendering only two on Thursday night at Blue and Gold Stadium, Weston has its first SWC championship in a decade, defeating New Milford 11-2 and completing an unbeaten conference schedule. “It’s just playing as a group,” said senior defender Duncan Craine, one of top-seeded Weston’s captains. “It’s not just one person out there doing what they want to do. We’re out there backing each other up, because you can’t always be perfect, but we’re out there trying to help each other out in that way.” Backing all of them up was junior goalie Will Pocsik, who was named MVP with 10 saves. The group in front of him intercepted several passes and forced a bunch of other turnovers. It didn’t hurt getting defender Jack Weinbrum and defensive midfielder Henry Katz back from injury Thursday. “That’s definitely the strength of our team, on defense,” Trojans coach Josh Thornton said. “We do a lot of things great: We face off well. Our offense is starting to get more confident. “Even in the games where we’ve let up some, we’ve challenged ourselves with a tough out-of-conference schedule, and it’s preparing us for these times now.” These times will continue the next couple of weeks with the CIAC tournaments, where Weston (15-4), last year’s Class M champion, has a good shot at a Class S title this time around. Weston’s losses included three to top-10 teams — Greenwich, Fairfield Ludlowe and Hand — and one to an Iona Prep team from New York that defeated No. 3 Staples. Only Greenwich and Iona Prep got to double digits on the Trojans. New Milford (15-4), which was the third seed in this tournament, is the fourth seed in Class L to cap off one of the Green Wave’s better seasons. “We turned a lot of heads,” Green Wave coach Evan Cassells said. “I wrote that email to you early in the year and said watch out for us. (He did: answering a questionnaire request for teams flying under the radar, he replied “us.”) “I don’t know if people believed us right off the bat, but we proved it with some great contests, great games that we’ve had.” For the first 10 minutes Thursday night, New Milford held Weston scoreless, with Green Wave goalie Keane Stanton stopping a handful. But the Trojans and Pocsik did the same. Two goals in the last two minutes of the first quarter got Weston going. Three more in the first six minutes of the second opened it up. And when Steve Sanford got New Milford on the board with his first of two goals, Weston’s Sean Esslinger won a faceoff, and the Trojans answered quickly. “It’s been a long time coming. This has been a really hard thing for us to do,” Thornton said; Weston had been to three of the previous five finals that had been played but was runner-up. “Ten years in the making getting to get back to this, it’s always been a tough thing for us. I’m really proud of the way the guys played as a team.” PLAYER OF THE GAME Weston junior goalie Will Pocsik was named MVP of the championship with 10 saves. QUOTABLE “It’s feeling great. It’s a long time coming, a lot of times where we’ve been so close. Last year we made it to the championship but fell short. We’ve been working all offseason, all season long We knew it was our year.” —Weston defender Duncan Craine mfornabaio@ctpost.com; @fornabaioctp WESTON 11, NEW MILFORD 2 NEW MILFORD0 1 1 0—2 WESTON2 4 1 4—11 Records: New Milford 15-4; Weston 15-4. Scoring: NM—Steve Sanford 2 goals, Ryan Strait 1 assist; W—Xander Nevitt 4g, Nick Possick 2g 2a, Renzo Garone 2g 1a, Rowan Bradshaw-Mack 2g 1a, Will Harris 1g 1a, Hayden Bilfield 2a, Sean Esslinger 1a, Nick Psychopaidas 1a. Goalies: NM—Keane Stanton (9 saves); W—Will Pocsik (10). Shots: NM—17; W—34.

Recommended