HARTFORD – The Tolland boys soccer team had plenty of chances to score Saturday afternoon in the Class M state championship game. But the Eagles couldn’t get the ball past Stonington’s junior goalkeeper Matteo Panciera.
As the clock wound down, Tolland had one more chance, a corner kick. And everything went right. Senior Jackson Silvay lined up and launched the shot, senior Jack Doerfler jumped up in the middle of the scrum in front of the goal and headed the ball to his teammate Vaughn Coombs who headed it sideways past Panciera with 33 seconds left in the game and the Tolland players sprinted to the sidelines to celebrate with their fans.
Tolland’s Vaughn Coombs scores off a corner kick with 33 seconds left to give Tolland a 1-0 lead and they held on to win the Class M title #ctbsocc pic.twitter.com/HuFFLB77u8
— Lori Riley (@lrileysports) November 15, 2025
Thirty-three seconds later, second-seeded Tolland (20-1-3) han its second straight Class M title, 1-0, over No. 5 Stonington.
Panciera made 17 saves for Stonington (16-5-2).
“He did a great job holding us off, but we knew we had to score before overtime,” Coombs said. “We had so many chances; we needed to put one away and we finally did.”
Tolland beat Weston 2-1 last year for its first title since 2015. The Eagles had 16 seniors returning.
“We had the experience from last year,” Coombs said. “It was amazing to do it again with these guys. Couldn’t have been a better way to end my season and career.”
Tolland coach Mike Caccomo said when the team started practice on Aug. 18, the goal was to win the state title again.
“This is not a fluke; these guys are the real deal,” he said.
And the last-second goal?
“A lot of things went into that goal – not only is Vaughn finishing in traffic, it’s Jack with the header, it’s Jackson sprinting 75 yards each way to get to it in a two minute span for three corners and to finish it in that fashion,” he said. “I’m not sure which layer of it is most impressive. Jackson sprinted back and forth. Jack getting up for the header late in the game – he had a lot of miles on his legs, Vaughn with the finish – it speaks volumes to how this group is, I can’t say enough about how amazing they are.”