By David Fierro
Two second-half goals resulted in one more dramatic postseason win for the Greenwich High School boys soccer team.
Glastonbury struck first, but Greenwich had the final say in Saturday’s CIAC Class LL quarterfinal-round game and the defending state champion Cardinals are now one win away from their final destination.
Goals from Charlie Fiore and Nick Hvatum lifted second-seeded Greenwich to a 2-1 comeback victory over seventh-seeded Glastonbury at Cardinal Stadium.
The Cardinals (15-3-2) earned a spot in the Class LL Tournament semifinals, where they will face 14th-seeded Stamford Wednesday at Norwalk High School at 6 p.m.
Greenwich defeated Hall for the Class LL state title in 2022 and has once again, shown its penchant for winning postseason games this fall.
“It feels great to advance to the semifinals, we have a target on our back this season and we handled it well,” said Fiore, a senior. “To go through a game like that, where they are really going at us from the first whistle to the final whistle and to come out on top, shows the character of this team.”
The Cardinals, who trailed Glastonbury, 1-0, at halftime, defeated Briston Central and Shelton in the first two rounds of the Class LL tourney and have yielded only three goals through the first three games of the tournament.
“This team is playing good football, maybe playing better football than last year’s team,” Greenwich coach Kurt Putnam said. “This team is growing into the concept of work rate and sacrifice while playing good football.”
The fact that Putnam said this year’s Cardinals squad is playing even better than they did in the state tournament one season ago, says a lot about this fall’s team.
“I think that was one of, if not, our best game of the season,” Fiore said of Saturday’s triumph. “We played a team that was hitting long balls, but we played our game and did a good job of sticking to what makes us great.”
lastonbury, which has been a perennial contender for the state championship for numerous seasons, took a 1-0 lead on the Cardinals in the 15th minute.
The visitors capitalized on a set piece, as Timothy McGuire scored off a corner kick, with 24:30 remaining in the opening half. Trailing 1-0, the Cardinals tallied the equalizer in the 50th minute, courtesy of Mink Van Tuijl and Fiore.
On the attack, Van Tuijl, a junior, challenged a Glastonbury defender and moved the ball right in front of the goal on the left side. Fiore took it from there with a finish from close in that knotted the score at 1-1.
“Mink had the ball on the left side and he took a touch and he shot it, the keeper made a save,” Fiore said. “I saw it bounce in front of me and from there, my job is to put the ball in the net and that’s what I did. I have to give a lot of credit to Mink, because he got to that ball and he really created the opportunity.”
Greenwich seized a 2-1 advantage, off an impressive counter attack. Hvatum, a junior, finished in front this time, putting the Cards on top, 2-1, in the 61st minute. Van Tuijl also assisted on Hvatum’s goal.
“Mink came on the couter attack and put the ball right in front of me on the 6,” Hvatum said. “We’re playing really well, we got into overtime last game, but we came out really strong today and we’re playing really well so far.”
The visitors put some pressure on the Cardinals late in the second half, but the home team was able to keep their lead, thanks to the strong defensive work of senior Gerardo Guerra, senior Andre Meier, junior Tomas Biagini and junior Pietro Carvalho.
Greenwich knew they would have to be in top form to get past Glastonbury and move one step closer toward defending their state championship.
“It was a hard game, they are a team that likes to kick it up the field,” Greenwich senior forward Maximo Ferrario, one of the squad’s leading scorers. “They are super physical, they pressed us very high.”
“I think we played one of our best first halves and second halves of the season and it was unlucky that we went down 1-0, but our team knew that it was one-goal away and we had to keep working,” Ferrario continued.
Fin Junius gave GHS another stellar performance in goal in the triumph.
“It was a great performance by the team and a great team win,” Junius said. “It was definitely a challenge, but it was a challenge everyone on the team enjoyed. It was nice to play a nice, physical team.”
Said Hvatum: “It was a really, really physical game. They’re defense was really good and they were clearing the ball well, so we had to get them around them somehow. But it was really fun playing against them.”
Now Greenwich will begin preparing to face Stamford. The Cardinals and Black Knights played to a scoreless draw on Oct. 10 in Greenwich. Stamford beat New Milford, Naugatuck and Westhill in the first three rounds to reach the Class LL semifinals.
“I’m really excited to play against Stamford again,” Ferrario said. “Playing against an FCIAC team, we know what to expect. It helps us prepare and know what we have to do to win.”
“We have Stamford, we already played them, unfortunately, it wasn’t the result we wanted,” Junius said. “We have to go out there and do our job.”
