As the clouds began to gather in the sky and the fading window of light sealed above Lilly Field in Wilton, the Staples girls’ varsity lacrosse team fell to the Wilton Warriors 9-6, pushing the Wreckers’ record to 11-2 on the season.

With goals from captain Elle Fair ’19, Shira Parower ’21 and Kyle Kirby ’20, the Wreckers were able to maintain a fair offensive presence throughout the game, but a great deal of credit was also given to the defense.

“Our defense really played phenomenal and I’m really proud of every girl playing till the last whistle,” varsity co-captain, Samantha Pacilio ’19, said.“Hopefully we’ll see them again in the postseason.”

The Warriors were led in goals by junior Sophie Sudano, a substantial asset to the Wilton girls lacrosse program who recently revoked her commitment to play Division 1 lacrosse at the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill.

Fair noted that the fluidity of the Warriors offense is something the Wreckers need to look to recreate as they continue on this season.

“I think that our attack struggled in the first half to keep possession which is something that we truly emphasized in practice this past week,” Fair said. “I think we will continue to work on possessing the ball, staying spread out on attack and being patient.”

Goals were scored in the first half in a very uniform manner: a Wrecker’s goal, a Warrior’s goal, a Wrecker’s goal, a Warrior’s goal. Both teams were steady off the draw, and transition offense played a significantly role in each team’s success.

“We always want to work as a team and work towards our goals,” Shira Parower ’21 said. “Although we just had a hard loss to Wilton, I know that we will be able to jump back from it because everyone has that mindset that it’s behind us. We have to be prepared for the rest of our schedule.”

The matchup was the highest ranked team the Wreckers have faced to date. Jane Lukens ’20 recognizes her own nerves and those of her teammates as one factor that might have impacted their play.

“I know Wilton was a big game and I know we were ready but I think we were all a bit nervous,” Lukens said. “We were dropping balls throughout the game and we weren’t moving the ball as fast as we could have.”

The Staples girls’ defeated Stamford and Ludlowe following this loss, pushing them to 13-2 on the season. They look to begin the first round of the FCIAC tournament this upcoming Friday.

“I think our loss to Wilton today is only going to help us for the upcoming games,” co-captain, Kathleen Cozzi ’20 said. “Our goal coming off of this loss is to work on keeping long possessions on attack and work on ball movement to get ready for the post season tournaments.”