Trumbull defended its FCIAC championship and Stamford had a very good season by advancing to conference and state tournament finals to highlight a successful boys’ soccer season for conference players and teams.
Trumbull defeated Stamford, 3-2 in overtime, in one of the best championship games ever in the FCIAC Boys Soccer Tournament at Norwalk High School’s Sam Testa Field on Nov. 2.
This latest 2023 title was Trumbull High School’s seventh conference crown since 2006 when the Eagles won the school’s first title as co-champions with Staples.
Owen Bull had a goal and an assist while Mateus Almeida and Jack DiGiovanni also scored goals for coach Sal Vitiello’s Eagles.
Most of regulation play was scoreless. Bull’s nice pass set Almeida up for the goal which gave the Eagles the 1-0 lead with 9:20 remaining in regulation and they maintained that lead into the last couple minutes of regulation until Stamford’s Mateusz Gazdzicki scored the dramatic tying goal with just 1:20 left to set up overtime.
Bull and DiGiovanni scored their goals to give Trumbull a 3-1 lead in OT and Owen Fedeli scored a goal to cut Stamford’s deficit to 3-2 before Trumbull held off the Black Knights the rest of the way. DiGiovanni, whose OT goal stood up as the game-winner, was named MVP of the championship game.
Last year Trumbull defeated Darien, 4-1, in the FCIAC final.
Staples earned the No. 1 seed for this year’s conference tournament by finishing atop the FCIAC standings in the regular season with an 11-1-3 record and 36 points, one point more than second-seeded Greenwich (11-2-2). Teams are awarded three points for a win and one point for a tie. The Staples Wreckers defeated Greenwich, 2-0, on their home Wakeman Field on Sept. 28 and that was pivotal toward them snatching the No. 1 seed.
Trumbull was seeded third with a 10-4-1 record and 31 points. Stamford (8-4-3 record, 27 points) got the No. 4 seed and was followed by Fairfield Ludlowe (8-5-2, 26 points), Brien McMahon (8-5-2, 26 points), Danbury (7-3-5, 26 points) and Fairfield Warde (6-5-4, 22 points).
The higher-seeded teams played on their home fields in the quarterfinals on Oct. 27.
Stamford and Fairfield Ludlowe played to 1-1 regulation tie in the quarterfinals and Stamford prevailed with a 4-2 advantage in penalty kicks to advance to the semifinals.
Trumbull shut out Brien McMahon, 1-0, Staples advanced with a 4-1 victory over Warde, and Greenwich nipped Danbury, 2-1, in the three other quarterfinal games.
Stamford defeated Staples, 2-1, in the semifinals and Bull netted three goals to help Trumbull advance to the final with a 5-4 victory over Greenwich at the neutral site at Fairfield Ludlowe’s Taft Field.
After the thrilling Trumbull-Stamford conference final, Stamford led and impressive showing in the Connecticut Interscholastic Athletic Conference Class LL Boys Soccer Tournament by the FCIAC, which had three of the four teams in the semifinals.
Stamford’s 14th-seeded Black Knights shut out second-seeded Greenwich, 3-0, and 16th-seeded Fairfield Ludlowe was nipped by fifth-seeded Hall, 1-0, in the semifinals. Hall won the Class LL state championship with a 1-0 victory over Stamford.
Coach Mike Summa’s Stamford Black Knights had quite the potent offense in their four victories as they outscored their opposition by a 13-1 margin en route to the championship game.
Trumbull opened with a 2-0 victory over No. 23 seed Fairfield Ludlowe and then Trumbull’s 10th-seeded Eagles were eliminated in the second round by seventh-seeded Glastonbury, 3-2.
The eight teams in the FCIAC tournament and Ridgefield, Darien, and Westhill were the 11 conference teams in the Class LL state tournament. The FCIAC had a combined 15-11 record in that state tourney.
And giving more evidence to the strength and depth of the FCIAC, Ridgefield’s 32nd-seeded Tigers stunned No. 1 seed Staples, 2-1, in double overtime and No. 27 seed Westhill advanced with a 2-1 victory over No. 6 seed East Hartford in the Class LL first round.
Hall (15-3-3), was voted No. 1 and Class L state champion East Lyme (21-1-1) was ranked No. 2 in the Connecticut High School Boys Soccer Coaches Final Poll. Hall, out of West Hartford, received nine of the 11 first-place votes and East Lyme got the other two.
Stamford (14-6-4) and Greenwich (15-4-2) were ranked third and fourth, respectively, as the FCIAC had three teams among the top eight and a half dozen were among the top 13 in receiving polling points.
Fairfield Ludlowe (11-7-2) was ranked No. 8. Brien McMahon got the 11th most polling points and was followed by Trumbull and Staples as they were the top three teams among the seven total statewide in the “Others receiving votes” category.
Trumbull and Stamford led the way with three players selected to the 2023 All-FCIAC Boys Soccer First Team while Staples, Greenwich, Brien McMahon, Danbury, and Fairfield Ludlowe each had a pair of players chosen.
Sean Nteziryayo, Bull and DiGiovanni were Trumbull’s selections while Stamford’s all-conference first-teamers were Christian Vitti, Noel Vargas and Mustafa Husain.
The other 17 players selected All-FCIAC first team were Avery Mueller and Santi Alfageme of Staples, Max Ferrario and Matthew Maloney of Greenwich, Blehar Mejia and Maycol Mejia of Brien McMahon, Manny Catarino and Marlon Orellana of Danbury, Charles Jones and Donell Young of Fairfield Ludlowe, Darien’s Gaurav Parwal, Fairfield Warde’s Amos Bignotti, Norwalk’s Yeiner Rojas, Ridgefield’s Brodie Dougan, St. Joseph’s Joseph Iazzetta, Westhill’s Patrick Larsen, and Wilton’s David Unruh.