There are several very good girls’ soccer teams in the FCIAC who have gotten out of the season’s starting gate with very good starts.
The next couple weeks will be pivotal with several big matchups of those top teams playing against each other.
The conference is so strong this season in girls’ soccer, in fact, that 15 coaches statewide voted St. Joseph, New Canaan and Ridgefield into the top three spots and there are five FCIAC teams ranked among the top nine in the current Connecticut Girls Soccer Coaches Class LL/L Poll.
Top-ranked St. Joseph, No. 2 New Canaan, No. 3 Ridgefield, No. 7 Trumbull, and No. 9 Greenwich are all at the top or near the top of the FCIAC standings and jockeying for positioning in the conference playoff race to secure some of the higher seeds for the 2025 FCIAC Girls Soccer Tournament.
One game occurred on the Monday afternoon of Sept. 15 when Greenwich’s host Cardinals prevailed by a 4-3 margin over defending FCIAC and Class L state champion New Canaan on the same day the coaches’ state poll was released. The Sept. 15 games were not yet played and were not a factor in the voting for the current poll.
The 16 FCIAC teams were exactly one third of the way through their respective conference seasons after the games which were played Sept. 15, as they all have 15 conference games.
Trumbull and St. Joseph were both unbeaten and untied with identical 5-0-0 records and tied for first place with their accumulation of 15 points in the games played through Sept. 15.
Greenwich, New Canaan and Ridgefield all had 4-1-0 records and 12 points and were in a three-way tie for third place.
St. Joseph dealt both Ridgefield and Greenwich their only losses of the season in the only two previous showdowns in which the current top five teams in the FCIAC played against each other prior to Greenwich’s 4-3 home victory Sept. 15 over New Canaan.
St. Joseph won, 1-0, at Greenwich on Sept. 5 and followed that up with a 2-0 home victory over Ridgefield four days later.
Darien was in sixth place in the FCIAC standings through Sept. 15 with a 3-1-1 record, having accumulated 10 points via three points for each win and one point for the tie.
Fairfield Ludlowe (3-2-0) was alone in seventh place with nine points. Staples (2-1-2) was in eighth place with eight points. Danbury (2-2-1) was ninth with seven points and Fairfield Warde (2-3) was in 10th place with six points.
There were eight showdowns scheduled from Sept. 17-30 in which the top eight teams in the FCIAC standings were scheduled to play each other.
Trumbull’s undefeated Eagles had such showdowns scheduled in three consecutive games. They were set to host Darien on Sept. 17 and Greenwich on Sept. 19, followed by a Sept. 25 trip across town to play at St. Joseph (4 p.m.).
St. Joseph’s Cadets were set to visit seventh-place Fairfield Ludlowe on Sept. 19, six days before their big home game against Trumbull on Sept. 25.
In the four other matchups soon among the top eight teams in the conference standings as of Sept. 15: Greenwich was scheduled to host Staples on Sept. 17, New Canaan will visit Darien on Sept. 25, Ridgefield plays at Fairfield Ludlowe on Sept. 27, and Staples hosts Fairfield Ludlowe on Sept. 30.
In the following October games pitting the current top five FCIAC teams against each other: Greenwich visits Ridgefield on Oct. 4; St. Joseph plays at New Canaan, and Ridgefield visits Trumbull on Oct. 7; Trumbull travels down to New Canaan on Oct. 10; and four days later New Canaan heads up the road to Ridgefield on Oct. 14.
St. Joseph received 12 of the 15 first-place votes and 147 polling points in the current coaches’ state poll. New Canann’s Rams had just nine points less with their 138 points and they got the other three first place votes.
Third-ranked Ridgefield had 96 polling points, 17 more than No. 4 Mercy, and those two teams were followed in the top 10 by Farmington, Sacred Heart Academy, No. 7 Trumbull, Notre Dame Prep, No. 9 Greenwich, and Hall.
Also, from the FCIAC: Staples received the 12th most polling points, Darien had the 14th most, and Fairfield Warde had the 18th most points as they were three of the nine teams statewide in the “Others receiving votes” listing.
The five FCIAC coaches who vote on the state poll are Kim Rasmussen of Fairfield Warde, Angelo Tsingerliotis of Brien McMahon, Barry O’Reilly of Ridgefield, Rich Sutherland of Trumbull, and Marvin Miller of Westhill.