Wreckers Face Stamford In State Tournament
The state tournament pairings are out.
Staples travels to Stamford on Monday, in round 1 of the LL (extra large schools) tournament. Kickoff is 2 p.m.
The Wreckers — in search of their 1st state title since 2009, and 13th overall — are seeded 21st. That’s the exact same spot as last year. In 2016 the blue-and-whites won their 1st 2 matches, at South Windsor and New Milford. They fell in a down-to-the-wire quarterfinals, 1-0 to eventual champion Farmington.
Earlier this season — in front of an enormous Saturday crowd — the Wreckers dropped a 1-0 decision to the Black Knights. It was a wild affair, with field player Will Birch in goal. Neither of Staples’ regular keepers were available.
Remarkably, this is only the 3rd meeting between Staples and Stamford in the blue-and-whites’ 59-year state tournament history. The Wreckers won both previous contests — in 1996 and 2002 — by 3-0 scores.
Naugatuck (13-1-2) is ranked 1st in the LL tourney. Two other first-round matchups involve 2 FCIAC sides: #5 Ridgefield vs. #28 Central, and #10 Fairfield Ludlowe against #23 Danbury.
Other FCIAC teams in LL include #11 Greenwich (hosting #22 Hamden), #14 Trumbull (hosting #19 Cheshire), #20 Norwalk (at #13 South Windsor), #27 Westhill (at #6 Farmington), and #29 Fairfield Warde (at #4 Newtown).
In the L division, #34 Wilton has a playdown match vs. #31 New Fairfield tomorrow.
Click here for the entire LL bracket.
QUICK KICKS: Greenwich won the FCIAC championship last night, 1-0 over Trumbull. The game was a rematch of last year’s co-champions.
