NEW BRITAIN – Tolland boys soccer coach Mike Caccomo took over the program in 2016, the year after former coach Jim Leahy took the Eagles to the state final and won.
Since then, the Eagles have been in the mix and have been close but haven’t quite been able to get back to the championship. That is, until Wednesday afternoon at Willow Brook Park against Stonington, a team that had knocked Tolland out of the tournament three times before in the last nine years.
Behind a hat trick from senior Chris Adadjo, Tolland finally broke through and advanced to the Class M championship game with a 3-0 win over Stonington.
“We said in preseason, we were tired of being close,” Caccomo said. “Every year we’re close. Semifinal loss two years ago. Quarterfinals last year.
“Our center back (Carson Merluzzo), two years ago, missed a (penalty kick) in the semifinals against Ellington and it ended for us and we talked a lot. He said, ‘I want to get back there again.’ I said, ‘We will.’”
Sixth-seeded Tolland will face Weston, a 1-0 winner in overtime over Ellington in the second semifinal game, in the Class M championship game Saturday at 12:45 p.m. at Trinity Health Stadium in Hartford.
“We played RHAM earlier in the year in (Trinity Health Stadium) and the guys were like, ‘Man, it would be so cool to get back here,’ and I said, ‘You will, don’t worry,’” Caccomo said.
Wednesday was the third semifinal Caccomo had coached in. It was the first time his team won.
Adadjo scored two goals, his 19th and 20th of the season, to boost Tolland (16-4-2) to the win. Adadjo scored on a breakaway with 10:35 left in the first half and scored again in the second half with 29:59 left.
Class M semifinal: Chris Adadjo scores to put Tolland up 1-0, 10:35 left first half #ctbsoc pic.twitter.com/xPTXbMVt0M
— Lori Riley (@lrileysports) November 13, 2024
Adadjo now has 43 career goals.
“My freshman, sophomore, junior year, we had a lot of setbacks, lot of quarterfinals, lot of semifinals,” Adadjo said. “This year, it feels great knowing we’re heading to the finals for the first time and have a chance to do something great.”
No. 18 seed Stonington (11-7-2) was the Class M runner-up last year.
The last time Tolland advanced to the finals was in 2015, when the Eagles beat Bacon Academy 2-1 in the Class M championship. The Eagles gave up one goal in three tournament games prior to Wednesday, in a 3-1 win over Barlow in the second round. Last year Tolland lost in the quarterfinals to RHAM.