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It had everything that you could hope for and expect from a showdown between two top-5 teams in the country. It was only fitting that Darien and St. Anthony’s needed not one, but two overtimes to settle a winner.
The Friars hadn’t lost a game since 2023. The Blue Wave won the Connecticut state championship last year. The teams’ head coaches, Darien’s Lisa Lindley and St. Anthony’s Darcy Messina, have coached together for the U.S. National U15 team. It’s a marquee game on the schedule every year for both teams. Add in the fact that it was Darien’s Autism Awareness Game – click here to donate to the cause – and the game had it all.
Quin Chandler won’t forget it anytime soon. The Blue Wave junior Harvard commit, playing in her second varsity game, finished off her hat trick by converting an Anna Von Kennel feed for the double overtime winner in Darien’s 10-9 victory over the Friars.
Darien Storms Back
“It’s really exciting,” Chandler said. “We work so hard and it’s early in the season, but in practice, we’ve been working toward this day a lot. It’s just so exciting. It doesn’t even feel real. Anna’s coming off with her explosiveness around the crease and I’m just kind of slipping back door righty up and just got a quick shot.”
St. Anthony’s looked like it might run away with it early when senior Notre Dame commit Anna Christie set up freshman Sophia Enea and senior UMass commit Madison Sussi for goals 16 seconds apart. Von Kennel and the Blue Wave had other ideas, though. She canned a bouncer on a free position shot to cut the deficit to 2-1. St. Anthony’s senior Florida commit Emma Speed expanded the Friars’ lead back to two with her first of five goals, but it was Von Kennel that came back with another free position shot to cut the lead to 3-2.
From there? Basically all Darien for two quarters. Von Kennel’s goal started a 6-0 Blue Wave run that featured two goals apiece from Chandler and Cornell commit Morgan Hite. It wasn’t until Sussi connected on a desperation shot right before the buzzer that St. Anthony’s finally slowed the Darien run.
Speed Kills
Then the Emma Speed Show started. She buried four goals in the fourth quarter and even had a few more quality looks. Speed’s fourth of the quarter and fifth of the game came with 2:11 to play to bring the Friars to within one. Senior Princeton commit Cameron Pupke sent the game to overtime on a goal with 34.3 seconds to go.
“It wasn’t even me,” Speed said modestly. “It was my teammates. Madison Sussi had that one shot that was a buzzer-beater (at the end of the third quarter) and that just set the tone. It got all of us up. The whole team wanted it so bad. We were working together and I couldn’t have done it without them. We have plays, and if they didn’t clear through and cut at the right time, it wouldn’t have been possible. It was the sideline, too. They held us in that game. It wouldn’t have even been overtime without them.”
“Everything You Could Ask For”
Both teams had chances in the first overtime, but that merely set up the chance for Chandler and Von Kennel to work their magic in the second bonus frame.
“For my senior year, this is everything that you could ask for,” Von Kennel said. “A game under the lights, all of my best friends, it means so much to win in overtime. My sophomore year, we lost (to St. Anthony’s) in overtime, so I just feel like we got revenge and I couldn’t be happier. I have so much respect for that team. They’re amazing, so kudos to them because they played an amazing game. I’m really happy for my team because we really needed this.”
Who doesn’t need a win like that?
Darien vs. St. Anthony’s Standouts
Adriana Gromelski ’27, midfield, Darien (Conn.) – Yale
Gromelski did a little bit of everything for the Blue Wave. Armed with an excellent first step and a nose for the ball, she hawked down five draw controls to go with a trio of ground balls. Oh, and she also added a free position goal to temporarily slow down the St. Anthony’s comeback in the fourth quarter. Gromelski is only listed at 5-3, but she almost uses that to her advantage to get lower in scrums for ground balls. Also an all-state field hockey and hockey player, she was a spark plug for Darien not just with how many plays she made, but when she made them.
Sophia Novelli ’26, defense, St. Anthony’s (N.Y.) – Vanderbilt
It feels like you should probably find another matchup when you’re playing the Friars. There has to be a better option. Novelli moves her feet really well and isn’t shy about getting out and pressing against her matchup. She also showed a very active stick, knocking away a couple of turnovers and effortlessly snagging up ground balls in traffic. Novelli had one incredibly impressive sequence where she took the ball away, cleared it up field and sent a terrific pass to the back pipe for a great look that was stopped.
Emma Speed ’26, attack, St. Anthony’s (N.Y.) – Florida
Speed got on the board midway through the second quarter when she converted a feed from Notre Dame signee Anna Christie. From there, she was relatively quiet… until the fourth quarter. With the Friars down 7-4, Speed completely took over the game. St. Anthony’s head coach Darcy Messina implored her to attack a certain defender, telling Speed that she had the mismatch. Three seconds later, the Friars were celebrating after the lefty swept to the middle and hammered home a shot off the pipe and in. Less than two minutes later, she buried another off of a curl. Speed then connected on a pair of free position shots, including an unreal finish while falling to the ground.
Anna Von Kennel ’26, midfield, Darien (Conn.) – Florida
My goodness, what a performance from the future Gator. It felt like Von Kennel was right there anytime the Blue Wave needed a play. The assist on Quin Chandler’s overtime winner was the biggest play, of course. Von Kennel got the ball behind the cage, pressed the corner, drew a slide and hit a wide-open Chandler, who did the rest.
There was way more to her game than that, though. St. Anthony’s jumped out to a 2-0 lead with goals 16 seconds apart. It was Von Kennel that slowed the momentum with a free position bouncer. She had a fantastic caused turnover on the ride early in the game that also gave Darien a big jolt. Von Kennel had another assist when she hit a cutting Peyton Joyce (Dartmouth) for the goal that capped Darien’s 6-0 run in the middle quarters. Two goals, two assists, two draw controls, three takeaways and a handful of ground balls. Talk about taking over a game.