Trumbull Boys Soccer Falls To Top Seed Pomperaug In Class LL Finals

If you take away the first five minutes of each half, the Trumbull boys soccer team outplayed top seed Pomperaug in the Class LL state final Friday night.

Unfortunately for the Eagles, the Panthers scored on set pieces early in each half, and that was the difference in their 2-1 victory before a crowd of 2,500 at Ken Strong Stadium.

"You don't put the ball in the back of the net, you're not going to win," said Trumbull coach Sebastian Gangemi, whose team finished the best season in school history at 18-2-4.

Before this year's postseason run, the Eagles had never been past the state quarterfinals. They also won their first outright FCIAC title earlier this month, beating three-time league champion Staples in the final.

Still, the missed opportunities Friday were frustrating.

"We had a lot of the possession," Gangemi said. "We made two stupid mistakes and we gave up two goals in the first five, six minutes. We usually do that to other people. We get it done to us."

After Trumbull's Anthony Teixera converted a penalty kick with 19:36 remaining in the contest, the Eagles pressed for the equalizer. They could not, however, overcome the early deficit they had dug for themselves.

Richard Pitman set up each goal for the Panthers (21-1-1), who won the first state championship in school history.

At 4:21 of the first half, Pitman won a free kick and directed a pass in front to Taylor Ellsworth, who headed the ball home.

Then at 2:14 of the second half, Michael Burke reached Pitman's corner kick along the far post and slid the ball inside the bar for a 2-0 lead.

All season, set pieces have been a dangerous weapon for the Panthers, and they were again on Friday.

"When you get to tournament time, it's going to be hard to find goals, so set pieces are going to be important," Pomperaug coach said Joe Mancini. "We've been working on it for the last month, so it's nice when it pays off."

After scoring the second goal, the Panthers may have let up on the gas. Most of the play in the second half was in Pomperaug's end.

Trumbull's dangerous foward Keith Bond, who scored 15 goals during the season and is headed to Yale, may have been the best player on the field Friday. Repeatedly, he tried to make things happen with impressive runs, but the Eagles couldn't finish.

"We knew they were good on set pieces, but we just couldn't put them away," Gangemi added. "I think they played their best game and we didn't play our best game."

Trumbull finally got a chance when Zachary Chase was taken down in the box. Teixera drilled the penalty into the right corner, giving the Eagles a jump-start.

Trumbull finished with a 7-2 edge in corner kicks, but couldn't get the tying goal. After some anxious moments, the Panthers, who allowed only 12 goals all season, were able to regroup.

Pomperaug's only blip was a 4-1 loss to Bunnell in the Southwest Conference championship game. Bunnell will face Avon in the Class L final on Saturday, meaning the SWC will have a chance for a second championship.

According to Ellsworth, the game's MVP, the defeat to the Bulldogs made the Panthers even hungrier.

"The SWC game pushed us harder and made us more determined to win this one," he said.

Trumbull suffered two defeats Friday. Earlier, the Eagles' girls team fell to top seed Glastonbury 2-1 in the girls' Class LL final.

Unlike the boys, however, the girls team has been a frequent visitor to the final and was seeking its ninth state crown.