Copyright Hartford Courant
The CIAC released state playoff brackets for field hockey and boys and girls soccer Tuesday. The state championships for soccer will take place Nov. 15-16 at Trinity Health Stadium in Hartford, while the three field hockey finals will take place Nov. 15 at Wethersfield High. Here is a quick look at each bracket: Boys soccer Class LL: The Farmington boys soccer team, last year’s Class LL champion, is seeded third and will face the winner of Amity-Fairfield Prep in the second round Nov. 3. Farmington, the top seed in the CCC tournament, lost to Hall 1-0 (5-4 on penalty kicks) in the CCC tournament semifinal Saturday. Hall was set to face defending Class M champion Tolland Tuesday night for the CCC championship. Hall, which won the LL title two years ago, is the No. 9 seed and Xavier, which lost to Farmington in the championship game last year, is the No. 5 seed. Xavier lost to Notre Dame-West Haven (the seventh seed in Class LL) 3-0 in the SCC conference championship game Monday night. Naugatuck is the top seed in Class LL and Greenwich, the top team in the Class LL/L state coaches poll last week, is second. Greenwich had its first loss of the season to Staples in the FCIAC soccer final Monday night. Class L: Wethersfield, which lost to South Windsor 2-0 in the CCC tournament quarterfinals, is the No. 4 seed in Class L. The Eagles lost two of their first four games, but did not lose again after that until the CCC tournament quarterfinals. They also avenged a season-opening loss to Berlin with a 3-1 victory on Oct. 6. East Lyme, the No. 1 seed, is ranked fifth in the state coaches Class LL/L poll. Class M: Tolland, the defending Class M champion, top-ranked in the Class M/S state coaches poll, is the No. 2 seed after No. 1 Weston. Tolland beat Weston 2-1 to win the Class M title last year. The Eagles played a difficult schedule against such teams as Farmington, Hall and Glastonbury (three ties) but lost only once to Enfield, 2-1, on Oct. 14. Plainville, the No. 3 seed, hosts Rocky Hill Friday in a first round game, whom the Blue Devils beat 1-0 on Oct. 6. Class S: Canton, third-ranked in the state coaches Class M/S poll, is the top seed in Class S. Canton (14-1-1) lost only once, to Somers, five days after the two teams tied, 2-2, on Oct. 11. Canton last advanced to a state championship game in 2021 where the Warriors lost to Old Saybrook. Haddam-Killingworth is the third seed, Old Saybrook is the No. 4 seed and Somers is the No. 5 seed. Shepaug Valley, last year’s champion, is the second seed. Girls soccer Class LL: Farmington, which lost to Simsbury in the CCC tournament semifinals 2-1 Saturday, is the top seed, while Simsbury – which was scheduled to play East Catholic for the CCC championship Tuesday night – is the No. 3 seed. Mercy, which won the Class LL title on a crazy last-second goal over St. Joseph last year, is the sixth seed and St. Joseph is the ninth seed. Class L: East Catholic, which was scheduled to play for the CCC championship Tuesday, is the top seed in Class L. The Eagles lost in the second round of the tournament last year. New Canaan, the defending L champion, moved up to Class LL. Class M: Bacon Academy, the top-ranked team in the state coaches Class M/S poll, is the top seed. The Bobcats won the ECC Div. I tournament championship Monday night with a 1-0 victory over Woodstock Academy. Lewis Mills, the defending champion, is the No. 8 seed and will face Seymour in a first round game Friday. Northwest Catholic, which was the Class M runner-up last year, is the 12th seed and will play Hand in a first-round game on Friday. Class S: Last year’s Class S champion was Coginchaug, a 2-1 winner over Morgan on penalty kicks. Coginchaug was the fifth seed last year; this year, the Blue Devils are the 12th seed. Morgan was the seventh seed last year and this year the Huskies are No. 10. Another Shoreline Conference team, Valley Regional, is the No. 2 seed. Valley was slated to play East Hampton Tuesday night for the Shoreline championship. Field hockey Class L: Staples is the top seed and the defending champion. Darien, last year’s runner-up, is the No. 2 seed. Glastonbury, whose only loss came to Wilton, 4-0, on Sept. 27, is the No. 7 seed and will host Ridgefield in a first round game Nov. 5. Glastonbury advanced to the Class L quarterfinals last year, where the Guardians lost to Wilton, 2-0. Class M: Avon, which had never missed a tournament in coach Terri Ziemnick’s almost 40 years of coaching, had to win its last three games to advance to the Class M tournament and the Falcons did so. They will be the No. 15 seeds and face No. 2 Hand, the 2023 Class M champion, Nov. 4. Defending champion Guilford is the sixth seed and Branford, last year’s Class M runner-up, is the No. 1 seed. Guilford lost in the SCC tournament quarterfinals but Branford was scheduled to play Cheshire for the SCC championship Tuesday night. Class S: Granby, which has won 14 state titles but hasn’t won one since 2019, is the No. 1 seed in Class S. Granby will host Lakeview in a first-round game Nov. 4. Canton, which was the Class S runner-up two years ago, is the third seed. Last year’s Class S champion Shepaug Valley is the fourth seed.
