NEW BRITAIN – There are three players on the Northwest Catholic girls soccer team who have won a state championship; two have won two.
But they’ve won in basketball. Not soccer.
The 19th-seeded Lions (12-5-3) will get a chance to win a title in soccer this weekend after beating Nonnewaug 4-0 in a Class M semifinal game Tuesday afternoon at Willow Brook Park. They will face Lewis Mills, a 3-0 winner over Tolland in the second semifinal either Saturday or Sunday at Trinity Health Stadium in Hartford at a time to be determined.
Class M semifinal: Maeve Staunton scores for Northwest Catholic, up 1-0 over Nonnewaug 27:24 left in the first half #ctgsocc pic.twitter.com/kNJa5CM8MK
— Lori Riley (@lrileysports) November 12, 2024
“We have an incredible team with a bunch of really talented girls who work well together,” Northwest Catholic coach Steve Carnes said. “The tough schedule we had kind of hardened us as individuals and here we are.”
Maeve Staunton, who committed to play soccer at UConn as a junior this year, scored the first goal for Northwest Catholic. Staunton was one of the basketball players who helped the Lions to the Class MM championship last winter. She had 16 points and was named the final’s most outstanding player. Northwest won the Class S championship the previous year.
“Just a phenomenal athlete – I call her ‘The Wizard’ because she kind of pulls stuff out of her hat all the time,” Carnes said.
Abby Casper, who had 19 points and seven rebounds for the basketball team in the 43-37 win over Sheehan at Mohegan Sun last winter, is the goalkeeper for the soccer team. A junior, she started playing goalie as a freshman and in the second round game against Class M defending champion Bacon Academy, she made three saves of penalty kicks in a 1-0 Northwest victory.
“Her first game was against Mercy in the state final because the goalie got injured when she was a freshman,” Carnes said. “She’s super athletic, super hungry, has great leadership – and she’s tall.”
One of the Lions’ defenders, Lily Johnson, was a freshman on the basketball team last year.
The girls soccer team also made it to the finals in 2021 and 2022 (when Casper and Staunton were freshmen), but they lost both times, to Holy Cross and Mercy, respectively.
“I think (experience) is a factor because the girls have been there before,” Carnes said. “They’re tried and tested. Back to back state titles for basketball. They’re seasoned.”
Senior Elise Nicholas scored the second goal with 18:01 left in the first half and the score was 2-0 at halftime. Junior Allie Loveless scored with 14:14 left in the second half and senior Hope Meaney scored less than a minute later for the final score.
Northwest was the second seed last year and lost in the second round in Class L. The Lions moved back down to M this year.
“It’s a good feeling but we haven’t won (the title) yet so we have a ways to go,” Staunton said. “It’s very hard to get back there.”
Lewis Mills 3, Tolland 0: Senior Riley Mills, who will play at Marist next year, scored twice for Lewis Mills and junior Lilly Castle scored a late goal in the second half, her 26th of the season, as fourth-seeded Lewis Mills beat No. 16 seed Tolland in a Class M semifinal game Tuesday night at Willow Brook Park. Mills scored her first goal with 12:41 left in the first half and her second off a corner kick with 17:07 left in the game.