St. Joseph won its third FCIAC championship in the last four fall seasons when the Cadets outdueled Greenwich by a 4-1 margin in penalty kicks in the conference tournament final, and 19 days later Greenwich won its first state championship ever to highlight another successful girls’ soccer season for the FCIAC.
After St. Joseph and Greenwich played to a scoreless tie in regulation and two overtimes, it came down to penalty kicks to determine the winner in the 2025 FCIAC Girls Soccer Tournament championship game on Oct. 28 at Fairfield Ludlowe High School’s Taft Field.
St. Joseph’s junior goalkeeper Cailyn O’Hara made a pair of diving saves to pave the way for St. Joseph’s 4-1 advantage in the penalty kicks format and she was soon after selected as the Most Valuable Player.
Taryn Czick, Sara Wicker, Cloe Woodley converted on St. Joseph’s first three penalty kicks. O’Hara than executed her second diving save, and her teammate Giuliana Mallozzi converted the penalty kick to ignite the St. Joseph celebration.
O’Hara and Greenwich’s sophomore goalie Taylor DeVries both made four saves with their matching shutouts in regulation and the overtime periods.
It was the second straight year St. Joseph was involved in the penalty kicks format to decide the FCIAC champion. Last year’s outcome was different, as this year coach Jack Nogueira’s Cadets did get to joyously celebrate.
Last year New Canaan’s Sydney Patten converted a final penalty kick as the Rams prevailed in the PK format by a 3-2 margin to dethrone two-time defending FCIAC champion St. Joseph.
St. Joseph defeated Darien, 3-1, in this year’s FCIAC semifinals. After Greenwich and Staples played to a 2-2 tie the Cardinals advanced to the final with a 5-4 advantage in penalty kicks.
In the opening quarterfinal round: St. Joseph’s Cadets won with their 4-1 penalty kicks advantage after they and Ridgefield played to a scoreless tie, Greenwich won by a 3-0 shutout over Fairfield Ludlowe, Darien shut out New Canaan, 1-0, and Staples defeated Trumbull, 2-1.
Coach Simon Rumbold’s Greenwich Cardinals got focused and motivated for this year’s Connecticut Interscholastic Athletic Conference Class LL Girls Soccer Tournament after their tough loss in the FCIAC final.
The second-seeded Cardinals rebounded most impressively with four consecutive shutout victories in the Class LL state tourney, culminating with a convincing 4-0 victory over fourth-seeded Amity in the championship game on Nov. 16 at Trinity Health Stadium in Hartford.
Harriet Franks of Greenwich was selected as the MVP of the championship game.
Shay Sippel and Kenna Harlow each scored a goal to help Greenwich seize a swift 2-0 lead in the game’s first 15 minutes and DeVries had six saves to register the shutout.
Greenwich advanced to the program’s first appearance in a state tournament final in dramatic fashion when Siena Ettinger, a freshman, headed in the game’s only goal with just 1:56 remaining in regulation after Sippel accurately sent her kick toward Ettinger in Greenwich’s 1-0 victory over Ridgefield.
That was the third straight shutout victory against a fellow conference member for the Cardinals in the Class LL state tourney after they opened with a 1-0 victory over Darien and advanced to the semifinals with a 3-0 victory over Fairfield Warde.
More examples of the strength of the FCIAC were that there were five conference teams out of the eight quarterfinal teams and three FCIAC teams in the Class LL tournament semifinals, where defending champion New Canaan was eliminated with a 4-0 loss to Amity.
Four FCIAC teams – No. 8 seed New Canaan, No. 12 seed Staples, No. 14 seed Ridgefield, and No. 23 seed Fairfield Warde – advanced to the quarterfinals with victories over teams seeded significantly higher than them.
Staples advanced there with a dominant 4-0 shutout over No. 5 seed Newtown, and New Canaan shut out No. 1 seed Farmington, 2-0, in the quarterfinals.
The Fairfield Warde Mustangs registered 1-0 victories over No. 10 seed Newington and No. 7 seed Notre Dame Prep to advance to the quarterfinals, where they were eliminated by Greenwich, 3-0.
Ridgefield advanced to the semifinals with 1-0 victories over No. 3 seed Simsbury and No. 6 seed Mercy.
There were a dozen FCIAC teams out of the 27 teams in the Class LL state tournament field and the conference had a .621 winning percentage with the combined 18-11 record.
And in yet another example which confirmed the strength of FCIAC girls’ soccer, Greenwich was ranked No. 1 in the final state coaches top 10 poll while leading contingents of three conference teams in the top five and five in the top 10.
Greenwich finished 18-2-2 and was only beaten by one team all year, that same St. Joseph team which won at Greenwich, 1-0, in the second game of the regular season before the rematch in the FCIAC tourney final.
The Cardinals received 14 of the 15 first-place votes. Amity (16-4-1) was ranked No. 2, Class L state champion Masuk (17-2-3) was the recipient of the other first-place vote and No. 3 ranking, and they were followed by FCIAC teams New Canaan (14-4-2) and No. 5 Ridgefield (12-5-4).
Mercy (16-2-3) and East Catholic (19-2-1) were ranked sixth and seventh, respectively, and they were followed by No. 8 Staples (12-4-5), North Haven (15-5-1), and No. 10 St. Joseph (16-4-1).
Greenwich and New Canaan each had four players picked to the 2025 All-FCIAC Girls Soccer First Team for the most selections and Staples had the second most with three selections among the 23 total players selected.
The four New Canaan Rams were FCIAC Player of the Year Clare Greisen, Kathleen Langford, Giana Mazotas, and Larkin Celiberti. The four Greenwich Cardinals were Anna Lenschow, Siena Ettinger, Julia Gustafsson, and Kenna Harlow.
Greisen, New Canaan’s junior forward, and Lenschow, Greenwich’s senior midfielder, were the two FCIAC players who received the highest levels all-conference and all-state postseason awards.
Greisen and Lenschow were two of the 12 players statewide selected to the 2025 GametimeCT All-State Girls Soccer First Team and they were also picked to the Connecticut Girls Soccer Coaches Association Class LL All-State Team.
Greisen, who had 26 goals and 10 assists for the Rams this year and has already racked up 53 goals and 23 assists in her previous two seasons, was on all three of those teams for the second consecutive year.
Lenschow, Greenwich’s team MVP, distributed 13 assists from the midfield and was a repeat selection on the All-FCIAC First Team.
There were a dozen FCIAC players on the 23-player CGSCA Class LL All-State Team consisting of eight seniors, eight juniors, six sophomores, and Ettinger of Greenwich as the only freshman.
Gustafsson, Greenwich’s senior forward/defender, also collected three postseason awards. She was GametimeCT All-State Honorable Mention and on the CGSCA Class LL All-State Team.
Celiberti and Langford were the two other New Canaan Rams selected to the CGSCA Class LL All-State Team.
The three Staples Wreckers on the All-FCIAC First Team were sophomore Addie Talbott, Alexa Van Aken and Maddy Johnson.
Talbott was also selected for the GametimeCT All-State Second Team and CGSCA Class LL All-State Team, while Van Aken joined her on the CGSCA All-State Team.
In addition to the combined 11 players from Greenwich, New Canaan and Staples, the other 12 players on the All-FCIAC First Team were Taryn Czick and Julia Nunes of St. Joseph, Alex Riehl and Hannah Felicione of Trumbull, Anna Von Kennel and Elise Hole of Darien, Reagan Ruggiero and Olivia Baglio of Ridgefield, Fairfield Ludlowe’s Maggie Davis, Danbury’s Ava Thatcher, Brien McMahon’s Faith Ortolano, and Fairfield Warde’s Savanna Tortorello.
Nunes, a senior forward, received three postseason awards. She made GametimeCT Honorable Mention and was on the CGSCA Class LL All-State Team and her junior teammate, Czick, was picked to the GametimeCT All-State Second Team 2025.
Riehl, Trumbull’s senior forward, and Thatcher, Danbury’s junior forward, also made CGSCA Class LL All-State and GametimeCT Honorable Mention. Baglio, a junior midfielder for Ridgefield, earned GametimeCT Honorable Mention.
The 22 players on the 2025 All FCIAC Girls Soccer Second Team were Jules Porco, Teagan Steers, and Hayden McBean of Fairfield Ludlowe; Harriet Franks and Shay Sippel of Greenwich, Sara Wicker and Cloe Woodley of St. Joseph, Eleni Petridis and Kaila Vasco of Brien McMahon, Erin Klosowski and Cathryn Mills of Ridgefield, Olivia Fuimara and McKenzie Vano of Trumbull, Sienna Schwartz of Staples, Darien’s Sophia McAnany, Wilton’s Katherine Johnson, Westhill’s Valerie Cardozo, New Canaan’s Whitney Hoegstedt, Norwalk’s Natalia Martinez, and Fairfield Warde’s Kate McMahon.