The high school fall sports season in Connecticut starts a little earlier than usual this year, on Tuesday, but the coaches and athletes are ready to go.
Numerous area teams won state championships last fall, including Hall in boys soccer, Farmington, RHAM and Coventry in girls volleyball and Simsbury and Cromwell in girls soccer.
Here is a quick look at some of the top teams in the area:
Boys soccer
Two years ago, Hall was the favorite to win the Class LL title but the Titans lost in the final on penalty kicks. Last year, Hall was the fifth seed and ended up winning it all, with a 1-0 victory over Stamford in the state championship game.
Hall has a dozen players returning from that team, along with five starters, so coach Zeke Seguro is hopeful.
“It’s going to be a work in progress,” he said. “Hopefully throughout the season, they’ll gain the experience and we can grow as a team and put ourselves in the position to do something. These teams (this year and last year) are pretty similar. There is potential there.”
Junior Diego Lemes De Souza, who scored the game winner in the championship, is back for Hall.
Farmington, which lost in the first round of the Class LL tournament on penalty kicks to Fairfield Prep, has 18 seniors and is on a mission. Coach Nick Boorman said the team could have moved to Class L but opted to stay in Class LL.
“They’re extremely motivated,” Boorman said. “Numbers-wise, we could go back to L, but the guys are really hungry to get another crack at the LL tournament.”
Junior Logan Drodz, an all-state midfielder last year, is one of Farmington’s top players.
Farmington will host Class M champion Lewis Mills Tuesday night in its season opener.
Lewis Mills graduated its top player Aleksander Swider, who had three assists and a goal in last year’s 5-2 championship game win over Stonington, but coach Ben Kulas is optimistic about this year’s team.
“He drew a lot of attention, and it took a lot of pressure off the other guys,” Kulas said. “Losing him and four other seniors was tough. We’re trying to find our groove. We have seven starters coming back. But we’re still trying to figure it out. We have four goal scorers from the finals coming back. Our goalkeeper is back. It’s just a matter of ‘OK, now, who can step up?’”
Tolland lost to RHAM in the Class M quarterfinals last year. The year before, the Eagles lost to Ellington in the semifinals on penalty kicks. This season, they have five seniors returning, including center back Carson Merluzzo and Chris Adadjo (who had 17 goals last year).
“They’re very motivated,” Tolland coach Mike Caccomo said. “They’re tired of getting close, being the team that just gets close every year.”
In Class S, Old Saybrook has dominated, winning titles the last five years. Coach Steve Waters picked up his 12th championship last year, and third for Old Saybrook, with a 4-1 win over Shepaug Valley. Old Saybrook graduated senior goalkeeper London Sweeney and championship MVP Kevin DeCapua.
Girls soccer
Simsbury coach Steve Jarvis had a magical season last year, when he and his daughter Olivia, a senior goalkeeper, won their first state title, 1-0, over Brookfield in overtime in Class L. It was the eighth title for the Trojans and the first since 2005.
“Going into the season as a state champion, it’s a little different feeling, but one we’re excited about,” Jarvis said. “Based on what we’ve been able to achieve in preseason, we’re cautiously optimistic, although we are in (Class) LL this year so that’s going to be a little bit more of a challenge.”
Simsbury graduated 10, including Olivia Jarvis, but brings back five starters.
“It’s going to be a different kind of chemistry,” he said. “Now we know how to win, we’re used to big occasions, so let’s see what happens this fall.”
The CCC is strong, with last year’s champion Northwest Catholic, and Glastonbury, which lost uncharacteristically in the first round of the Class LL tournament.
“We’re coming off a difficult season, probably the worst season we’ve had in probably 20-25 years,” Glastonbury coach Mark Landers said. “We recognize that. We’ve been putting in more effort and understand we’ve got a lot of work to do.”
Cromwell, which won the Class S title 2-1 in overtime over top-seeded Thomaston, returns much of its defense but lost championship game MVP Cameryn Hickey to graduation. Sophomore Taylor Ursin, who scored the game winning goal in the final, is back.
“She’s got big shoes to fill,” Cromwell coach Marcelo Caetano said. “I think we’re going to play a lot of good soccer and defensively we’ll be good, but the question is, where are we going to get the goals from?
“The teams are out to play us hard. It’s been a little different.”
Suffield, which lost in the Class M final to Bacon Academy on penalty kicks, returns a large number of players, including Olivia Matthews, who has 70 career goals and 50 assists.
“We have a little more experience,” Suffield coach David Sullivan said. “Last year’s final, everyone panicked and tried to revolve around Olivia – I don’t think they could have passed her the ball anymore if they tried.
“I got to the bus and said, ‘What the heck just happened? Some of you girls have 20 goals, some of you have 15…’ It is what it is and they’re all a year older. Hopefully we can make another run at it this year.”
Field hockey
Glastonbury advanced to the Class L semifinals last year but lost to Staples 2-0 and graduated a group of key seniors.
However, the Guardians still have senior midfielder Addison Infante, who will play at UConn next year. Infante was a regional All-American and led Glastonbury in assists.
“We still have her, and we’ve got a lot of talent,” Glastonbury coach Maureen Perkins said. “There are a lot of players who have had a chance to watch and learn and now it’s time for them to step up.”
Canton, which had its first undefeated regular season last year (16-0) since the early 90s, advanced to the Class S championship game for the first time since 2007 but lost 4-1 to defending champion North Branford.
Canton had seven players graduate, including its entire defense.
“We’re not rebuilding, we’re just picking up where we left off,” Canton coach Margaret Bristol said. “This is a different team; we’re playing around with positions and different formations on the field to see what fits this team the best.”
Cross country
A large group of top girls runners should make things interesting this fall. Glastonbury senior Brooke Strauss, Conard seniors Tess and Liv Sherry and Manchester sophomore Harper Shirley are all from the CCC and finished second through fifth, respectively, in the State Open last year. The one non-CCC runner who would have been in that mix was Old Lyme’s Chase Gilbert, who finished third as a freshman in the Open and won the Class S title last year but didn’t run in the Open due to an injury.
“The competition is going to be outrageous,” Glastonbury girls coach Brian Collins said. “It’s going to make them all better.”
Glastonbury girls, who won the Open title in 2022 and finished third last year to Greenwich and Cheshire, are expected to be in the mix again. The Guardians have four of their top five runners back.
On the boys side, Xavier brings back five of its top seven runners, including seniors Owen Martin and Jack Ouellette, who finished fourth and sixth at the Class L meet last year to help the Falcons to the title. Xavier finished third at the State Open.
“They all showed tremendous growth through the indoor and outdoor track seasons,” Xavier coach Chris Stonier said. “That’s usually the biggest indication for success (in the fall).”
Volleyball
Farmington, which won the Class L title, brings back a core group of players from the championship team, including senior setter Emily Sousa, senior libero Jamie Zadrozny and senior outside hitter Lucy Scudder, last year’s tournament MVP.
The River Hawks will have more competition in Class L this season, as RHAM, the Class M state champion, moves up to Class L and Cheshire, a Class LL quarterfinalist, moves down to L.
RHAM, which won its third straight title, had a young team last year and return some key members, including junior outside hitter Meredith Weir and senior libero Neve Tyler and senior rover Caitlin Ridel.
“I think we’ll be fine,” coach Tim Guernsey said. “We’ll keep tweaking as the season goes on and see where we fall.”
Southington, which lost in the Class LL championship last year, returns top players in seniors Alyssa Ferreira at libero and Natalee Grindle at outside hitter.
Swimming
Riley Anderson, who goes to Bacon Academy but swims for the Manchester co-operative team, won the 50 free and the 100 free at the State Open last year and she’s only a junior this year. She helped the Manchester co-op team to a fourth-place finish at the State Open. She was also the 50 and 100 free champion at the Class LL meet.
Natalie Gajecki of Cheshire won the 100 back at the State Open and helped the Rams to a third-place finish behind Ridgefield and Greenwich. Cheshire also finished second to Darien in the Class L championships.
Wethersfield was the runner-up in Class M behind champion Pomperaug.