Darien girls lacrosse knocks off national No. 1 St. Anthony's (N.Y) behind Chandler's overtime goal
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DARIEN - What do you get when you put two nationally ranked No. 1girls lacrosse teams on the same field?
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A thriller, naturally ... and overtime, naturally.
Quin Chandler took a backdoor pass from Anna Von Kennel and scored the game-winning goal in the second three-minute OT to give Darien a 10-9 victory over St. Anthony's (N.Y.), ending the Friars' 50-game winning streak Wednesday night in Darien.
St. Anthony's is ranked No.1 in the USA Lacrosse National Top 25, with Darien fourth, and the Blue Wave are No. 1 in the USA Lacrosse National Public Schools rankings.
"There was just so much adrenaline coming into this," Darien senior co-captain Jane Slonieski said. "We weren't supposed to win, but that doesn't mean we weren't going to come home with the win. We've been prepping all week and we knew how they played.
"This is the first time in my whole high school career that we're winning (against St. Anthony's), so it just feels really great."
The loss was the Friars' first since April 15, 2023. They've won six straight New York Class AA championships and were unbeaten the past two seasons. This year, they opened with three wins.
St. Anthony's won the last two meetings with the Wave, including a wild 5-4 victory in triple OT in Darien two years ago. The Friars also won last year 13-7 on its home turf, while Darien took a 12-7 decision in 2022.
This time around, St. Anthony's scored twice in the first 1:25, but was then held to just one goal for the next 30-plus minutes as Darien took a 7-3 lead late in the third quarter.
But the Friars stormed back. Madison Sussi scored at the third-quarter horn and the Friars then outscored the Wave 5-2 in the fourth to force OT. Cameron Pupke's goal with 34.3 seconds on the clock was the equalizer.
After a scoreless first session, Darien won the draw to start the second and worked the ball around the cage to Von Kennel in the back. She worked it around the left post and passed to Chandler, who caught it high and slammed it inside the right pipe for the win.
"I just saw Anna wrapping around the crease with her head up and I just backdoored and got the amazing pass from Anna," Chandler said. "It was just a quick touch and shot. It was really exciting, and relieving. It felt unreal."
It was Chandler's third goal of the game as the Wave had multiple goal-scorers. Von Kennel had four points on two goals and two assists, with Morgan Hite and Peyton Joyce scoring two goals apiece. Adriana Gromelski scored once and led Darien with five draw controls and three groundballs.
Emma Speed led the Friars with five goals, including four during the fourth-quarter rally.
The Blue Wave defense, which featured Slonieski, Haven Moneypenny, Lexi Gonella and Sophie Beach as well as two freshman goalies in Molly Spellman and Addie Horn, was in shutdown mode throughout most of the first three quarters.
"We've all been playing together for so long, so our chemistry's great," Moneypenny said. "We trust each other out there and we deliver on the field.
"It's definitely nerve-wracking when that momentum shifts, but I told my defense every second keep your heads up."
Player of the game
Quin Chandler, Darien:Scoring the game-winning goal in overtime against the No. 1 team in the country, a team which had won 50 in a row. It doesn't get much better than that.
Quotable
"Quin is awesome. I'm so thrilled I'm going to school (at Harvard) with her in a couple of years. She is amazing and I trust her with the ball so much, and as soon as it got in her stick, I knew she was going to find the back of the net." - Darien senior Haven Moneypenny.
Darien 10, St. Anthony's (N.Y.) 9 (OT)
ST. ANTHONY'S 2 1 1 5 0 0- 9
DARIEN 1 2 4 2 0 1-10
St. Anthony's:Emma Speed 5g; Madison Sussi 2g; Anna Christia 3a; Sophia Enea 1g; Cameron Pupke 1g.
Darien:Quin Chandler 3g; Anna Von Kennel 2g, 2a; Morgan Hite 2g; Peyton Joyce 2g; Adriana Gromelski 1g; Bryn Charney 2a; Cameron Pokorny 1a; Lily Davenport 1a.
Saves:SA-Sofia Moschitta 6 ; D-Molly Spellman 4, Addie Horn 1.
Records: St. Anthony's (N.Y.) 3-1, Darien 2-0.
This article originally published at Darien girls lacrosse knocks off national No. 1 St. Anthony's (N.Y) behind Chandler's overtime goal.