Trumbull Girls Soccer Continues State Tournament Run

After a two-year absence, the Trumbull girls soccer team is back in the Class LL state championship game.

With Friday's semifinal against Newtown seemingly headed to overtime at chilly Ken Strong Stadium, senior Lorraine Dedrick scored with 1:49 remaining, lifting the 18th-seeded Eagles to a 1-0 victory over the sixth-seeded Nighthawks.

It was the second straight top-10 seeded defeated by Trumbull (11-4-6), which knocked off No. 7 New Canaan 3-0 in the quarterfinals.

The Eagles advanced to the final next weekend against either top seed Glastonbury or No. 20 Staples, who play on Saturday. A win by Staples would set up an all-FCIAC final, but Derick has no preference.

"It doesn't really matter," she said. "We could probably beat whatever team gets in there because it's a team game and we're a really good team. We play really well together."

Trumbull will be seeking its eighth state championship in the last 15 years. They won four in a row from 1996-99, added another in 2001, then reeled off another string of three straight beginning in 2006.

That the Eagles have made it back it to final might be considered a surprise since they only finished eighth in the FCIAC and lost to St. Joseph in the FCIAC quarterfinals, but here they are.

"We had a frustrating regular season because a lot of the games that we tied or lost we actually played well and we weren't able to finish," Trumbull coach Daniel Uhrlass said. "It was just simply the girls continuing to work hard, staying together as a team.

"We kept trying to play the way we believe in by playing good passing soccer. ... very unselfish team. The girls have risen to the occasion, one player after another coming up big in the postseason."

Each team actually had goals nullified in the first 10 minutes. A goal by Trumbull's Ana Tantum was negated because of a foul in front of the net.  Four minutes later, Melissa Buccino's goal for Newtown was waived off because of an offside call.

Thereafter, the contest turned into a defensive battle with the evenly matched teams surrendering few quality scoring chances.

Trumbull had a slight territorial edge in the second half, when it allowed only one shot, but the Eagles couldn't generate much pressure.

The goal came on a seemingly innocuous play and Dedrick actually was suprised the ball ended up in the net after rolling slowly across the goalline.

"It was bouncing in the box and no one was there, no one was pressuring it," she said. "I was standing right there, so I thought I'd go and kick it. I think it hit one of their players and went it. I thought the goalie had gotten it."

The goal was a blessing for the fans who braved the near-freezing temperatures because it meant no overtime. As the Eagles huddled for their postgame meeting, the scoreboard at Ken Strong Stadium revealed that the temperature had dipped to 33 degrees (the game-time temperature was 41).

Of course, the Eagles weren't feeling the cold.

"This team, there's something special about it," Uhrlass said. "We don't have a single player who is an All-Star kind of player. We just got a lot of kids that work hard. They're versatile and they don't quit."

Newtown, which lost to New Milford in the SWC final, finished the year at 16-3-4.