Swaby's Overtime Goal Lifts Hall Over Farmington

In an effort to boost his team’s scoring opportunities, Hall High girls soccer coach Scott Ferguson moved his talented sophomore Chantelle Swaby from defense to left wing.

The move has already paid huge dividends for the Warriors, as Swaby scored the game-winning goal with 3 minutes left in the second overtime off a gorgeous cross from Kyanna Alleyne to lift Hall to a 2-1 victory over Farmington High on Friday.

“We were playing with an aggressive formation with the thought that if we waited back a little bit then we’d get opportunities, but it wasn’t really working out,” Ferguson said after the match.

It was a match between two CCC West heavyweights that could have gone either way; both sides controlled the pace at various times.

Hannah Cho put the Warriors up 1-0 in the 13th minute when she crashed the goal and knocked in another exquisite cross from Alleyne.

“If we can get [Alleyne] into space, she can cause trouble,” Ferguson said. “We have Hannah Cho running into space. If we attack the box, we have people who can cause trouble there.

But Farmington showed plenty of class and quality, responding in the 21st minute when co-captain Brittany Galske knocked in a corner to bring the Indians level.

From there, the match shaped up into a terrific - if not classic - back-and-forth affair between two sides that look to contend in the state tournament in November.

Farmington head coach Steve Jarvis hardly sounded like someone disappointed in how his charges held up in the mid-season test.

“We were unlucky to lose,” Jarvis said. “Hall has some talented individuals that made the difference today. On another day, that cross doesn’t come in for the second goal. … It was back and forth. They had their spells in the game, they had their 15 minutes, we had our 20 minutes. Then they had a little bit more. It was a great high school game. It was very competitive.

“If this doesn’t serve Hall well, if this doesn’t serve Farmington well in the state tournament, then I don’t know what will.”

Hall improved to 6-0-1 on the year, with hard-fought victories over Middletown, Simsbury and Farmington, as well as a tie against two-time defending state Class M champion Northwest Catholic.

Ferguson said that he hopes to get a result against Conard at home on Wednesday, because the Warriors have several tough matches on the road, including the reverse ties against Simsbury, Farmington and Northwest Catholic.