The FCIAC had four teams ranked in the top 10 in each of the final girls soccer and boys soccer state coaches polls.
Ridgefield and Staples were tied for third in the final Class LL-L girls soccer poll behind No. 1 Glastonbury and second-ranked Southington.
Glastonbury was the unanimous choice for No. 1 shortly after its 1-0 victory over Southington in the championship game of the 2019 Connecticut Interscholastic Athletic Conference Class LL Girls Soccer Tournament.
Glastonbury compiled 60 points in the voting by receiving all six first-place votes. Southington totaled 54 points while Ridgefield and Staples each got 41 points to share the third spot. Guilford received just two points less with 39 to finish fifth.
The four ranked FCIAC girls soccer teams finished among the top eight as St. Joseph was sixth and New Canaan was eighth.
East Lyme finished seventh while Suffield and Sheehan completed the top 10.
Ridgefield and Staples both advanced to the state Class LL semifinals. Fifth-seeded Ridgefield advanced with a 2-1 quarterfinal victory over fourth-seeded St. Joseph before Ridgefield’s 1-0 semifinal loss to Southington. Staples lost by that same 1-0 margin in the semifinals to eventual champion Glastonbury.
New Canaan won two games before its 3-0 quarterfinals loss to Southington.
Ridgefield coach Iain Golding was the one FCIAC coach among the six coaches statewide who voted on the poll throughout the year.
In the final Class LL-L boys soccer poll, Greenwich was ranked third for the highest ranking of three conference teams ranked among the top five. Wilton and Trumbull were ranked fourth and fifth, respectively.
Hall defeated Greenwich, 3-1, in the CIAC Class LL Boys Soccer Tournament championship game and then received 14 of the 15 first-place votes to finish No. 1.
Hall finished with an 18-2-2 record and Daniel Hand got the other first-place vote after it improved to 15-1-4 with its 4-3 double-overtime victory over Wilton in the state Class L championship game.
Typical of so many previous years, the FCIAC teams are battle tested with their many challenging games within their conference and that prepares them well for state tournament play.
Greenwich and Wilton were not even ranked among the top 10 in the previous poll but their sustained runs to their respective state championship games earned them enough respect from the voting coaches that Greenwich’s 14-5-2 Cardinals soared up to the No. 3 ranking and Wilton’s 12-3-6 Warriors were just behind them at No. 4.
Trumbull finished with a 13-3-4 record and ranked fifth after its 2-1 quarterfinals loss to Staples when the Wreckers prevailed by a 5-4 margin in the format of penalty kicks.
Farmington (14-4-2), Guilford (12-2-6), Glastonbury (15-2-1) and Wethersfield (14-4-1) were ranked 6-9.
Fairfield Warde, which finished 15-1-3 after its 2-1 quarterfinals loss to Farmington, was ranked 10th as that fourth FCIAC team in the top 10.
The conference had five teams among the top 11 as Staples had the most points among the four teams in the “Others receiving votes” category. Coach Dan Woog’s 17th-seeded Wreckers caught the voters’ attention when they rallied back from a 2-0 deficit with three consecutive goals to stun top-seeded Glastonbury, 3-2, in the second round. Glastonbury was ranked No. 1 in the previous state coaches poll.
Trumbull, which won the FCIAC championship with a 1-0 victory over Warde, eliminated Staples, 2-1, in the state Class LL quarterfinals. Trumbull’s Eagles prevailed by a 5-4 margin in the format of penalty kicks.