Glastonbury Cops Third Straight Class LL Soccer Championship

NEW BRITAIN, CT — Only in the world of sports can three in a row supersede 60 in a row. In the case of the Glastonbury High School girls soccer team, its 60th consecutive win was dwarfed by the ultimate result: a third straight Class LL championship.

Approaching halftime, the Tomahawks broke a scoreless deadlock with a late goal, then scored in the first five minutes after intermission en route to a 4-1 win over Ridgefield at Veterans Memorial Stadium at Willow Brook Park.

It is the second straight title victory over the Tigers; last year, Glastonbury prevailed by a 5-3 count.

A great defensive play by Danielle Brinckman and a diving save by goalkeeper Abby Renaud were the first-half highlights for Glastonbury, until Emily Beard drilled a shot into the top right corner of the net with 1:28 to play before intermission.

"They seemed to man mark Caroline (Bogue) up top and they also man marked Sammy Riggott," Glastonbury coach Joe Finocchiaro said. "It looked like that was their game plan to take those two away. We talked about it at halftime and were able to make adjustments."

• See also: Photo Gallery: Glastonbury Girls Soccer Championship

Shortly after the break, the Tomahawks doubled their lead on a goal by Bogue off a corner kick by Madison Seymour. Rather than fold, however, Ridgefield stormed back to cut the margin in half when Alexandra Damron put home a rebound off a scramble in front.

"2-0 is kind of a dangerous score, and we seemed to kind of settle down a little bit," Finocchiaro said. "We were a little unlucky, the ball kind of didn't bounce our way and Ridgefield was able to capitalize."

Bogue added an insurance tally with 4:30 to play, executing a beautiful move in front when she switched direction from left to right and booted the ball into the right corner. It was her 34th goal of the season, setting a new Glastonbury record.

Eden Baker closed the scoring for Glastonbury with 1:31 remaining.

Renaud had a typical outstanding game in net for the Tomahawks.

"Abbey is amazing, she was our rock the entire season," Finocchiaro said. "Being able to have a goalkeeper like that helps the rest of the team know they can take some chances and she's going to be back there to make those saves and manage the game for us."

Photo credit: Tim Jensen