The recently-crowned conference champion Staples girls soccer team and the FCIAC runner-up Fairfield Warde boys soccer team were both ranked No. 1 in their respective state coaches Class LL-L polls when state tournament play commenced this past Saturday (Nov. 9) with the qualifying rounds.
The strength of FCIAC girls soccer is evident in that three conference teams are ranked among the top three, there are four FCIAC teams among the top six and five among the top nine.
Staples was the unanimous No. 1 choice as the Wreckers received every first-place vote from the six voting coaches, including Ridgefield’s Iain Golding, to total 60 points.
Two-time defending state Class LL champion Ridgefield, was ranked second with 54 points.
St. Joseph, from the FCIAC, and Southington both received 45 points and were tied for third in the girls state poll which was released Nov. 4. Glastonbury was No. 5.
Wilton was the fourth FCIAC team among the top six while South Windsor and Suffield were tied for seventh.
New Canaan was No. 9 as that fifth conference team among the top nine and RHAM completed the Top 10 in the girls poll.
All five of the ranked conference teams played in the 2019 FCIAC Girls Soccer Tournament which Staples won with a 1-0 victory over St. Joseph on Nov. 7 at Wilton High School.
Autumn Smith, who made 2018 All-FCIAC Girls Soccer First Team, converted the game’s lone goal early in the second half after Gabby Gonzalez sent a free kick into the box. Staples goalkeeper Marissa Shorrock earned the shutout.
It was a great tournament all around for the Wreckers, who outscored their conference tournament foes by a 12-2 margin in their three victories. They opened up with a 5-2 quarterfinal victory over Trumbull and advanced to the championship with a 6-0 semifinal victory over New Canaan.
St. Joseph shut out Brien McMahon, 1-0, in the first round and defeated Ridgefield, 2-1, in the semifinals.
Ridgefield shut out Darien, 4-0, in the first round. New Canaan and Wilton played to a scoreless tie in the first round before New Canaan’s Rams prevailed by a 7-6 margin in penalty kicks to advance to the semifinals.
Last year Ridgefield was seeded seventh in the CIAC Class LL Girls Soccer Tournament and the Tigers defended their crown with a 1-0 victory over fifth-seeded Staples in a rematch of the 2017 final which Ridgefield won by a 2-1 margin. Last year the FCIAC had five of the eight teams in the CIAC Class LL quarterfinals, with Trumbull, Darien and Wilton being the other three.
This year Staples is seeded second in the Class LL tournament behind top-seeded Southington. St. Joseph and Ridgefield are seeded fourth and fifth, respectively, and in the same upper bracket as Southington.
St. Joseph and Ridgefield would play each other in the Nov. 16 quarterfinals if Ridgefield’s two-time defending champion Tigers win their their first two games and St. Joseph’s Cadets, who drew a first-round bye, were to win their first game in the second round.
The state coaches boys soccer poll was released Nov. 5 and the voting took place at a point when Fairfield Warde had an unbeaten 13-0-3 record so, consequently, Warde received 10 of the 15 first-place votes to snatch the top ranking as the only FCIAC team in the Top 10.
Glastonbury, 13-1-1 at the time, received the other five first-place votes to earn the No. 2 spot and was followed by East Hartford (11-0-3), Hall (12-1-2), Xavier (11-2-2), sixth-ranked Bristol Eastern (13-0-2), Daniel Hand (11-1-4), Naugatuck (13-1-2), Farmington (10-3-2) and No. 10 Wethersfield (12-2-1).
The three FCIAC coaches who vote on the boys poll are Dan Woog of Staples, Norwalk’s Chris Laughton and Wilton’s Jim Lewicki.
Defending FCIAC champion Trumbull, which was 10-2-4 when the polling took place, received the 11th most points in the polling.
But soon after that poll was voted on, Trumbull’s Eagles went on a special and most poignant run to defend their FCIAC championship with a 1-0 victory over Fairfield Warde.
Coach Sebastian Gangemi’s Eagles copped the conference crown last year while Gangemi was battling cancer. Six months later Gangemi succumbed to his battle with cancer when he passed away in May. And then on a rainy Nov. 7 night this year at Norwalk High School it was Gangemi’s former trusty assistant, Silverio Vitiello, now the head coach, who guided the Eagles to their 1-0 victory over Warde in the FCIAC championship game.
Tiago Frazio netted the game-winner in the first half on an assist from Justin Horvatch, who was named MVP of the championship game. Trumbull goalkeeper Nick Grassi had nine saves en route to the shutout.
Trumbull and Norwalk played to a scoreless tie in the first round and Trumbull’s Eagles had to prevail by a 4-2 margin in penalty kicks to advance to the semifinals, where they had an impressive 4-1 victory over Staples.
Fairfield Warde and crosstown rival Fairfield Ludlowe had a thrilling first-round overtime match which Warde won by a 4-2 margin and then Warde’s Mustangs shut out Wilton, 1-0, in the semfinals.
Also in the first quarterfinal round of the FCIAC boys tourney: Wilton nipped Greenwich, 2-1, and Staples shut out Danbury, 1-0.
Fairfield Warde is seeded second as the highest-seeded team in the lower bracket of the 2019 CIAC Boys Class LL Soccer Tournament while Trumbull is seeded eighth and in the same upper bracket with top-seeded and defending Class LL champion Glastonbury, a 1-0 winner over Hall in last year’s final.
Greenwich and Danbury made the deepest run of FCIAC teams in last year’s Class LL boys tourney and they were both eliminated in the quarterfinals. Greenwich’s Cardinals were seeded 16th and they upset top-seeded Xavier, 1-0, in the second round before they lost to eventual champion Glastonbury, 1-0.