RIDGEFIELD — There was just no stopping the Ridgefield High School boys lacrosse team in the FCIAC quarterfinals Monday afternoon.

After playing relatively even early on, a seven-goal Ridgefield outburst put the third-seeded Tigers ahead to stay in a 15-8 triumph over sixth-seeded Greenwich.

“It’s awesome. It’s just a piece of the journey,” Ridgefield senior midfielder Greg Gatto said. “We have to win each day coming forward and make the most of each game.”

As the runner-up last year for the fourth time in seven years, the Tigers are hungry to capture their first conference championship since 2009.

Actually, they’re starving.

“We always are,” Ridgefield coach Roy Colsey said. “This is a great tournament. I told them they should feel lucky to be a part of this conference and be involved with so many great opponents.”

The Tigers are set to play second-seeded New Canaan Wednesday at 5 p.m. at McMahon High School in the first game of a semifinal doubleheader. New Canaan defeated seventh-seeded St. Joseph Monday, 13-3. Ridgefield and New Canaan didn’t play in the regular season.

“We’ve found that it doesn’t really matter who we’re against this year, as long as we take care of our internal process,” Gatto said. “When we play Tiger Lacrosse, it’s more about us than it is our opponent.”

Sophomores John Mathes and Ray Dearth scored four goals apiece to lead Ridgefield. Gatto added two goals and two assists and Dawson Muller and Weston Carpenter each chipped in with a goal and four assists. Christopher Cozens and Noah Gels each tallied a goal and an assist, and James Isaacson added a goal. Goalie Daniel Parson made four saves.

For Greenwich, freshman Leo Johnson led the way with two goals and three assists. Jack Feda, Lance Large and Jackson Trimmer scored two goals apiece. In goal, Connor Santry made four saves in the first half and Edward Bacon made seven saves in the second.

Ridgefield’s seven-goal eruption, which lasted roughly nine minutes and turned a 2-2 game into a 9-2 Tigers advantage, was too much for the Cardinals to overcome.

“They scored a bunch in a short burst there, and when that happens, you lose the momentum,” Greenwich coach Bobby Lutz said. “In any sport, especially high school sports, it’s tough to get that back. We felt like we could chip away and put one or two on, but every time we put one on, they put one on. Every time we put two on, they put two on.”

TURNING POINT

Ridgefield opened an early 2-0 lead on goals by Gatto and Isaacson, but Greenwich answered with two goals of its own, one by Large and one by Feda nine seconds apart, to tie the game.

It appeared at that point, late in the first quarter, that the game would be another back-and-forth battle similar to the two teams’ season-opening clash on April 10, which Ridgefield won, 13-8.

Dearth then scored his first goal of the game, firing a straight-on laser off a pass from Carpenter with 3:24 remaining in the first quarter, to put the Tigrs ahead 3-2. Dearth scored again a little more than two minutes later to make it 4-2, and the Tigers were rolling. Three goals by Mathes and one each by Muller and Carpenter put Ridgefield up by seven with 6:05 remaining ion the second quarter. Greenwich never came closer than five goals the rest of the way.

BACK IN BLACK AND ORANGE

Gatto had missed most of the season with a broken wrist, Colsey said, before returning for the Tigers’ regular-season finale against Ludlowe. Gatto’s presence adds another wrinkle to the Tigers’ attack, and gives opposing defenses one more weapon to try and stop on a team that has a whole arsenal.

“A lot of guys have had to step up and score goals in his absence, and now that he’s back, we have all those players plus him,” Colsey said.

rgregory@newstimes.com; Twitter @DanburySports

RIDGEFIELD 15, GREENWICH 8

FCIAC quarterfinals

GREENWICH2 2 2 2 — 8

RIDGEFIELD5 6 2 2 — 15

Records: Greenwich 7-10; Ridgefield 12-4. Scoring: G—Leo Johnson 2 goals, 3 assists; Jackson Trimmer 2g; Jack Feda 2g; Lance Large 2g; Matt Baugher 1a. R—John Mathes 4g; Ray Dearth 4g; Greg Gatto 2g, 2a; Christopher Cozens 1g, 1a; Noah Gels 1g, 1a; Weston Carpenter 1g, 4a; Dawson Muller 1g, 4a; James Isaacson 1g. Goalies: G—Connor Santry (4 saves), Edward Bacon (7); R—Daniel Parson (4). Shots: G—22; R—34.