Girls soccer: Vikings end Wilton's hopes for FCIAC playoff berth

Written by John Miscioscia
Thursday, 29 October 2009 09:33

The Wilton High girls soccer team may not have gotten the victory it needed to stay in contention for a berth in the conference playoffs.

But the Warriors did come away from last Thursday night’s 1-0 loss to Westhill with something important: A quality performance against one of the FCIAC’s elite teams.

“I was very proud of the way the team played tonight,” said Wilton head coach Scott Neumann. “Westhill (11-1-2 through Monday) is a well-coached team and their players have great skills. They have had an outstanding season and we played them tough.”

Although it will miss the FCIAC playoffs, Wilton (5-6-3) has already qualified for the state tournament.

The Warriors, who end the regular season Friday night at McMahon-Norwalk, are the defending Class L champs.

“In the upcoming state tournament we’ll need to bring a high level of energy to every game and hope to get a little lucky,” said Neumann.

Playing at home on Senior Night, the Warriors did bring a lot of energy, playing a spirited game and keeping pace with a fast and aggressive Westhill team.

The first half was scoreless, with Westhill opening with an uptempo and physical style of play — just what Neumann expected. Westhill’s passes were crisp and its play well organized. Westhill also had great team speed and made many long, on-the-mark passes to open up the field and create scoring opportunities.

That said, Wilton kept stride with Westhill and played an outstanding game, displaying both smarts and a lot of heart.

The game’s only goal came 10 minutes into the second half on a Westhill direct kick after a Wilton foul. Westhill’s Tessa Dunster sent a high, hard shot that deflected off Wilton goalie Elizabeth Reda’s fingertips and bounced into the net.

Throughout the contest, Wilton had scoring opportunities but couldn’t finish or was thwarted by Westhill. Roz Savoie had a good rush early in the game as she got past two Westhill players to get a shot on net, but the Westhill goalkeeper was there for the save.

Late in the game there were a few scrambles in front of the Westhill goal, but the Warriors couldn’t get a lucky bounce or a toe on the ball.

Kasey O’Brien (first half) and Reda combined to make three saves in goal for the Warriors.

Notes: In a halftime ceremony, Wilton honored its seven graduating senior soccer players — Lauren DeCarlo, Alexi Farmakis, Tessa Howard, Emily Kobrya, Kaitlyn Lattimer, Stacy Pokora and Savoie — along with their parents. The seven players represented more than half of the team’s starting lineup for the game.