60 For 60: Week 8
We’re almost there! Staples soccer’s 60th anniversary celebration is this coming Saturday (click here for details). The Wreckers continue to play strong, exciting soccer — honoring their heritage with pride and passion.
Every week, we’ve presented fun facts from the past 6 decades. Here are last week’s entries:
— After college, Derek and Drew Riker ’88 became super-models. They also appeared on “The Amazing Race.”
— The 1992 team scored 91 goals — by far the most ever for a Staples squad.
— For the first 10 years of Staples soccer, only 2 teams played in the FCIAC finals: the Wreckers and Brien McMahon. And it was a 1-game tournament: only the top 2 teams qualified.
— The only goal defender Rob Stone scored was in the 1982 state final: a 1-0 win over Ridgefield. That was the first Staples team to not win a division title. Despite an undefeated league record, they had 3 ties. Stone’s strike came 4 years to the day after the Wreckers topped Greenwich 2-1, in the state championship — on the same Conner Field, in New Canaan.
— The 2009 state championship made Staples the first Connecticut soccer team to win a state title in 5 different decades. All 12 state crowns have come in the highest division.
— In 1988, Staples lost to Brien McMahon 2-0. It was the first time in 9 years — 135 games — they fell by more than 1 goal. That previous 2-goal margin was 3-1 to Glastonbury, in the 1979 state semifinal.
— In 1989, Staples and Ridgefield were both in the USA Today Top 20. That meant 2 teams from the same league — and division! — were rated nationally.
Keeper Rob Sweetnam (left), Jay Cook (right) and the Wreckers celebrate Rob Stone’s game-winning goal in the 1982 state championship.
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