Advertisement

A look at the CIAC state tournament pairings: Hall boys soccer, Cheshire girls soccer hoping to win state titles

lori riley, hartford courant
·5 min read

The state tournament pairings were released on Friday for the CIAC boys and girls soccer, field hockey and volleyball tournaments, which will culminate in a weekend of state championships Nov. 19-20.

The boys and girls soccer finals will be held at Trinity Health Stadium in Hartford as they were last year and it proved to be a popular venue as 2,500 fans watched Farmington beat Cheshire in a Saturday night boys soccer game to decide the Class LL championship.

The three field hockey finals will be played at Wethersfield High Nov. 19 and the four volleyball championships will be decided Nov. 19 at East Haven High School.

Here is a quick look at the state tournament pairings:

Boys soccer

- Hall is the second seed in Class LL and in his final high school season before he heads to UConn, senior striker Lucas Almeida wants to win a title after Hall fell short last year in the quarterfinals to eventual champion Farmington on penalty kicks. Hall finished the regular season 14-0-2, with its two ties coming to Farmington (the 17th seed in LL) and Glastonbury (fourth seed).

- Last year’s Class LL runner-up Cheshire, who lost to Farmington in the final, has moved to Class L, where the Rams are the No. 1 seed. Xavier lost to Cheshire in the Class LL semifinal on penalty kicks last year. Xavier won the SCC title Thursday, beating Fairfield Prep 2-1 in overtime.

- Ellington, the Class M runner-up to Stonington last year, is the top seed in Class M. The Purple Knights have only one regular season loss. Windham is the No. seed and Bulkeley, whose regular season record is 13-0-3, is the No. 3 seed.

- Old Saybrook, which beat Canton last year for the Class S title in overtime, is the fifth seed in Class S and Canton is No. 6.

Girls soccer

- Cheshire won the SCC championship 2-1 Thursday night after senior Gabby Tirado scored the game-winner on Mercy’s All-American goalkeeper Melina Ford and the Rams are the top seed in the Class LL tournament. Last year, Tirado was injured and out for most of the season and Cheshire lost in the Class LL quarterfinal. Glastonbury, whose only loss came to Class L champ St. Joseph 2-0 on Oct. 4, is the second seed in Class LL. The Guardians last won a title in 2019.

- Wethersfield is the third seed in Class L, behind Nonnewaug and St. Joseph. The Eagles have not lost in the regular season and one of their three ties came against Glastonbury Sept. 30 (1-1) and the two were set to play Friday night for the CCC championship.

- Mercy is the defending Class M champion, after tying with Sacred Heart for the title last year. There are no more co-champions in soccer, though, and this year the Tigers (15-3-1) and their top-notch goalie Ford would like to win it outright. Mercy beat Sacred Heart twice this season and its only regular season losses came to West Haven and Brookfield. Northwest Catholic, last year’s Class S runner-up, is the 13th seed in Class M

- Lyman Memorial is the top seed in Class S; the Bulldogs won the ECC Div. II title on Thursday, 2-1, over Plainfield on goal by Becca Ziegler with 37 seconds left. East Catholic, the No. 2 seed, hasn’t lost since its season opener on Sept. 8 to Tolland.

Field hockey

- In Class L, Southington, Glastonbury and Hall are the third, fourth and fifth seeds in a bracket full of quality FCIAC competition. Southington is having its best season with a 13-0-1-2 regular season record and the Blue Knights hope to be able to at least win a tournament game, something they haven’t done since 2008. Glastonbury, whose coach Maureen Perkins won her 300th career game this season, last went to a final in 2014, when the Guardians tied with Darien for the title. Hall lost in the quarterfinals last year to Wilton and Glastonbury in the semifinals to eventual champion New Canaan.

- Wethersfield, which advanced to the Class M championship game for the first time last year but lost to Guilford, is the No. 7 seed in Class M and Avon, whose coach Terri Ziemnicki won her 400th career game this season, is the 12th seed. Guilford is top-seeded and the favorite to win again this year.

- Canton, which hasn’t won a title since 1999, is second-seeded behind defending champion North Branford in Class S. Canton hasn’t lost a game since Sept. 21, when Simsbury beat Canton 2-1. Granby, which last won a title in 2019, is the sixth seed.

Volleyball

- RHAM, whose coach Tim Guernsey won his 400th career game this season, is the defending Class L champion but has moved down to Class M, where the Raptors are the fourth seed. RHAM has two regular season losses, to Fairfield Ludlowe and Conard.

- Conard is the fourth seed in Class LL and Southington is the fifth seed. Conard’s only two regular season losses came to Southington and Southington’s only two losses were to Glastonbury and RHAM. Darien is the No. 1 seed in Class LL.

- Suffield is second-seeded in Class L, while Berlin is the fourth seed. In Class S, Coventry, last year’s runner-up, is the seventh seed and Lyman Memorial, last year’s champion, is No. 8.

Lori Riley can be reached at lriley@courant.com.