Hand captures fourth straight crown
Tigers outlast Wilton in wild overtime thriller
Hartford – Scott Testori figured that when Hand High teammate Christopher Porte scored off of his own rebound two minutes into the first overtime period of the Class L state championship game on Saturday that would be enough.
He figured that the Tigers would then have the momentum to coast to a win over Wilton at Dillon Stadium, and earn a fourth consecutive boys soccer championship.
And then four more goals were scored in the remaining 28 minutes.
It was Hand, though, that came out on the winning end of a ridiculous, uptempo overtime which saw an unheard of five total goals scored (compared to just two in regulation). Senior Jack Greene scored the game-winner 101 minutes in to give the fourthseeded Tigers (15-1-4) a 4-3 win, and that fourth straight state title.
“Every time scored, we kind of had a mentality like, ‘Oh, we got this now.’ But then they would score again,” said Testori, a junior who scored a goal in overtime and assisted on Green’s winner. “The best thing was we kept our heads; we didn’t let them take the lead, ever.”
Eighty minutes of regulation soccer weren’t enough, as the game went into extra time even at 1-1. Testori scored the game’s first goal seven minutes into the second half on a header, and Wilton, the 10th seed, answered with 12 minutes to play with a goal from Nathan Bennett.
Porte scored the first goal in extra time, then Wilton’s Jacob Lash scored on a hard-hit ball which barely left the ground with four minutes left in the first period to make it 2-2. Testori responded three minutes later with a header off of a free kick from Matthew Luongo, giving Hand a 3-2 lead. Wilton scored again with 11 minutes left in the second overtime period on a Liam McLaughlin goal to tie the game. With nine minutes left in the final overtime period, Testori chased down an awry free kick which bounced to the right of the goal. He controlled the ball, turned and passed it to Green, who was streaking toward the net, and he kicked it past the Wilton keeper for the game-winner.
“It was a real, real battle in those last 30 minutes,” Green said. “As a center back, you’ve just got to get into the box and see what you can do. I ended up getting on the end of one.”
It’s a fourth straight title for the Tigers, and a second for head coach Greg Cumpstone, who took over the program before last season.
“In hindsight, looking back, it will be wonderful,” Cumpstone said. “During the moment, I would have liked it to be 2-nil, better on my heart. Looking back, this game is going to be something that we all remember for a long, long time.”