Conard Boys Soccer Gets First Playoff Win in Decades

On Saturday, the Conard boys soccer team, seeded #11 in the Class LL tournament, earned the right to play at least one more game on the home turf at McKee Stadium, with a hard fought victory over #22 seed Danbury in the school's first opening round victory in the tournament since 1972.

The Chieftains had earned the first chance in more than 15 years to host a home game in the CIAC state tournament with a 2-1 victory over Hall back on Halloween.

Saturday's game started off like it would be season-ending for Conard.

Danbury senior Jordan Warren, scored the Hatter's first goal in the first five minutes, with 35:29 left in the first half. Senior Jonathan Pena scored next, with 23:09 left in the half.

Conard finally got on the scoreboard with a goal by junior Matheus Souza, with 8:43 left in the half.

Whatever Conard Coach Adam Linker said to his team at halftime sent a re-energized squad out to the pitch for the second half.

Exactly six minutes into the half, Conard senior Tomas Miranda scored a game-tieing goal with a header off a kick by Souza.

With 20:32 left in the second half, Conard senior Suyash Adhikari knocked in a another on a play that started with a kick by senior Sam Turco and was touched by several other Conard players before landing in the goal.

Under intense offensive pressure from Danbury, the Chieftains held onto the 3-2 lead, until a header by Hatters sophomore Esteban Vazquez tied the game with 3:16 left in regulation.

After two 10-minute overtimes, the game remained tied 3-3, requiring penalty kicks to determine the winner. When a tie is decided by penalty kicks, five players from each team kick once alternately, or until the lead is insurmountable.

Shooting first, Danbury's Esteban Vazquez narrowly missed, heading over the crossbar. Conard junior Rodrigo Giraldo's kick was good. Warren kicked one in for Danbury, and another Warren, Conard senior Chris Warren, also made his penalty kick.

Cheers erupted from a fired-up Conard crowd as sophomore goalie Neil Droney made a key save on the next penalty kick attempt by Danbury senior Carlos Pereira.

The Chieftains' next attempt, by sophomore Erik Ribeiro, was good, as was the Hatter's kick by senior Iver Galarza.

If Conard's next kick went in, they would win. Tomas Miranda took a long approach, and ... knocked the ball in, propelling the Chieftains into the second round.

On Monday, Nov. 12, at 2 p.m., Conard (13-4-0) will meet #27 seed Guilford (7-5-5) at home. Guilford defeated #6 seed South Windsor 1-0 on Friday.