The New Canaan High School boys’ lacrosse team is celebrating its 50th anniversary as the girls’ team and youth programs enter their 35th and 44th years, respectively.
To say that the high school and youth programs fit hand-in-glove may be an understatement.
“There’s lots of overlap, from people who serve on the boards of both to shared equipment, goals and uniforms,” said Mike Regan, president of the youth program, known officially as the New Canaan Lacrosse Association (NCLA). “We have constant communication.”
Both Chip Buzzeo and Kristin Woods, the varsity coaches, sit on the NCLA’s board. Players from both high school teams serve as volunteer coaches in the youth program. Many of them have also completed USA Lacrosse certification to officiate in-house youth games.
“We don’t mandate that they volunteer. That comes from the players themselves,” said Buzzeo, a member of NCHS’s class of 1996 and the boys’ head coach since 2013. “They want to do it and they love to do it.”
The fact that most of the high school players are products of the youth program only solidifies their bond to the NCLA. Unity is a central theme in New Canaan lacrosse.
“We coordinate our Youth Day around the high school teams to celebrate all the teams together,” Regan said. “We love having the high school players engaged with the youth program. Most of them came through the NCLA.”
The symbiotic relationship has borne a lot of fruit through the years, with multiple league and state championships for both the boys’ and girls’ varsity teams. Dozens of New Canaan players have earned USA Lacrosse All-America honors and more than 200 players have gone on to play collegiately.
Among notable New Canaan products are Premier Lacrosse League coach Andy Towers (Chaos) and player Michael Kraus (Waterdogs), 1998 USA gold medal winner David Curry, Penn coach Mike Murphy, recent Maryland national champion Drew Morris and English national team stars Olivia Hompe and Jenny Simpson.
“The expectations in New Canaan are very high, but the first mission for all of us is to develop good people,” Buzzeo said. “This town loves lacrosse, and everyone plays a role.”
It’s a town tradition to start each spring season with an annual celebration of the game, hosted by the Friends of New Canaan Lacrosse. Part fundraiser and part lacrosse party, the event is all-inclusive, incorporating the high school teams as well as New Canaan’s youth program. The money raised is shared by all the teams.
“We look at the game as one whole entity, and we are committed to helping and supporting each other,” Buzzeo said.
Incredibly, Buzzeo is just the third NCHS boys’ coach in its 50-year history. He also played for the original coach, Howard Benedict, who piloted the team for its first 37 years and also helped to establish the youth program.
“Coach Benedict put Fairfield County lacrosse on the map,” Buzzeo said. “He’s a legendary figure in Connecticut lacrosse history.”
Today, from the high school down through the youth program, there are more than 1,200 kids playing lacrosse in New Canaan — roughly 6 percent of the town’s entire population. Older players attend youth games, and youth are ever present at high school games and practices.
“Our high school teams are a source of town pride,” Regan said. “We follow those kids not just as they move from the youth program into high school, but also as many of them join college teams.”
The NCLA’s in-house league — especially for younger kids at the K-4 grade level — utilizes small-sided fields and garners support from an army of volunteers. Using USA Lacrosse’s athlete development principles, the league creates a fun setting for less experienced players to learn the game.
“New Canaan has just as many girls playing lacrosse as boys, which I think is so impressive,” said Woods, who helped lead NCHS to its seventh girls’ state championship in 2022. “It just keeps getting bigger and bigger each year.”
The NCLA is committed to the USA Lacrosse concept of the right lacrosse at the right time for each participant, with a player-centered philosophy.
“We focus on making it as fun and as competitive as possible,” Regan said. “There’s great energy in those games and it’s really helped with retention. Everyone falls in love with the game through the in-house league.”
That includes Buzzeo, who has three young kids in the program and is a volunteer.
“There’s really a great atmosphere for those youth games, so I try to be involved as much as possible,” he said. “It’s a unique experience for those boys and girls.”
And a true testimony to New Canaan’s communal lacrosse experience.
“They are doing all the right things to really move the game forward,” said Jesse Paynter, USA Lacrosse’s regional manager for the New England region. “New Canaan has played an integral part in spreading the game of lacrosse all around Connecticut and beyond.”
