MANCHESTER – When the current seniors on the East Catholic girls soccer team were freshmen, the Eagles won the Class S state title.
They got moved up to Class L after that and it got tougher. They did advance to the semifinals the next year, losing on penalty kicks to eventual champion Simsbury. Last year, the Eagles lost in the second round to Waterford.
But this season has been different. Those freshmen are now seniors. The Eagles won the CCC championship. They are top-seeded in Class L and beat No. 8 Wethersfield 1-0 in a hard-fought tournament Class L quarterfinal game Friday afternoon at Charter Oak Park.
“It was exciting,” East Catholic coach Ken Goodale said. “I expected nothing less. I think the last two years have prepped them for where they are right now.”
East Catholic (19-1-1) will face the winner of the Pomperaug-North Haven quarterfinal Friday in a semifinal either Tuesday, Wednesday or Thursday at a time and place to be determined.
Anya Tansil, one of those seniors who played as a freshman in the 1-0 win over Lyman Memorial in the 2022 championship game, scored the only goal with a little over two minutes left in the first half. She had three goals in the last tournament game, a 5-0 win over Bethel and has 38 this season.
“She’s very humble; a gifted athlete,” Goodale said. “She enhances the game for everyone around her.”
“Coming in as a freshman, I didn’t know what to expect,” Tansil said. “Freshman year, the senior class won the Class S state championship. Our hope is to run it back and win it again. That’s the seniors’ goal.”
Goodale said his team, which has only lost once, to South Windsor on Oct. 17, has matured over the last few years.
“We moved up to Class L and it’s gotten harder,” he said. “But they’ve matured over the past few seasons. They’re able to close games out like this one, where maybe two years ago they weren’t able to do that.”
In the postseason, they’ve come together to win the close games. In the CCC tournament, they beat Newington on penalty kicks in the semifinal and Simsbury 1-0 in the final. East Catholic lost in the first round of the CCC tournament last year.
When Wethersfield pressured the Eagles at the end, East Catholic was able to hold off its opponent.
“We were pretty confident because we’ve had a lot of games like this,” East Catholic junior center midfielder Meadow Kinney said. “We can’t stop ’til (the clock) hits zero.”