Glastonbury boys soccer coach Mark Landers holds up the Class LL championship trophy after the Tomahawks beat Darien 4-0 Saturday. Photo by Joe Morelli.
WEST HAVEN >> The Glastonbury boys soccer team knew the school’s girls soccer team had achieved the first half of the Class LL state championship double-dip by the time they arrived at Ken Strong Stadium Saturday.
With the girls team staying to watch, the Tomahawk boys team finished it off thanks to three second-half goals. Top-seeded Glastonbury beat No. 11 Darien 4-0 to complete a three-peat in the LL division.
“Three in a row, I’, speechless, I really am,” Glastonbury coach Mark Landers said. “I’m not going to lie to you, we talked about it, we talked about it a lot. But to do it is a whole another thing. To play like we did today, win our last game, it is pretty amazing. We came out and performed at a high level.”
Landers said the team was on hand to watch the Glastonbury girls win the Central Connecticut Conference tournament title 2 1/2 weeks ago, then went out and lost to Wethersfield in its own final in overtime.
Coaches being superstitious is not uncommon and with a state championship on the line, Landers wasn’t taking any chances.
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“So we weren’t coming early (Saturday), but we were here with them (the girls team) for sure,” Landers said.
Darien goalkeeper Liam Rischmann came far out of net several times Saturday to grab balls before they turned into shot attempts. But his aggressiveness cost him on Glastonbury’s first-half goal as Sebastian Sanzaro was able to get behind him all alone for the empty-netter.
“When we made the mistake with 4 minutes left in the first half, it changed everything,” Darien coach Jon Bradley said. “To ask him (Rischmann) not to come off his line, not to do certain things, that’s what got us this far. … You have to play almost a flawless game to beat them. Without him, we would never have come this far.”
The Tomahawks (20-3) scored three times in the second half to break open the game. John Kapelewski made it 2-0 less than 8 minutes into the latter half.
Then after Rischmann whiffed trying to punt the ball away, Sam Pfrommer controlled the loose ball. His shot was knocked in unintentionally by Blue Wave defender Robert Garrett less tan 2 minutes after Kapelewski’s goal.
Nick Kapelewski scored off Sanzaro’s corner kicks with just over 18 minutes left to complete the scoring.
“They can bring 16-18 players off the bench,” Bradley said about Glastonbury. “There’s not many teams in the state that can go that far down the bench. That’s a big thing they have going for them
It’s the sixth outright title for Glastonbury and ninth overall (three shared crowns, including 2013).
‘We’ve talked about love the last couple of games,” Landers said. “Love in the locker room, love for our families and our community. Right here before the game, it’s the final thing we talked about before taking the field. This group is a close bunch and they all are like family to me. That’s the driving force behind this.”
Glastonbury 4, Darien 0
(at West Haven)
Darien 0 0 — 0
Glastonbury 1 3 — 4
First half—Glst: Sebastian Sanzaro 35:58; Second half—Glst: John Kapelewski 47:22; own goal 48:36; Nicholas Kapelewski (Sebastian Sanzaro) 61:31;
Shots—DR: 10; Glst: 15;
Saves—DR: Liam Rischmann 1; Glst: Sean Lindsey 5;
Records—Darien 16-3-5; Glastonbury 20-3
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