CLASS LL NO. 16 GREENWICH (13-5-2) VS. NO. 2 HALL (18-0-2)
When: Saturday 6:30 p.m.
Where: Trinity Health Stadium, Hartford
Tickets: Adults $10, Students $5, Senior Citizens $5, Children 5 and under; military in uniform or with I.D., Free. Digital Tickets Only (no cash sales at event) can be bought in advance at https://gofan.co/app/school/ CIAC.
ON THE AIR/WEB: NFHS Network (Subscription required).
CHAMPIONSHIP GAME APPEARANCES — Greenwich: 5th appearance, 1-3 overall. 2019 lost Hall 3-1; 1978 lost Staples 3-2; 1961 def. Manchester 2-1; 1958 lost Manchester 1-0; Hall: 13th appearance 9-3 overall. 2019 def. Greenwich 3-1; 2018 lost Glastonbury; 1983 lost to Guilford 1-0; 1980 def. E.O. Smith 3-2; 1964 def. Brien McMahon 2-1; 1963 coChampions with Staples; 1960 co-Champions with Glastonbury; 1959 lost to Glastonbury 1-0; 1955 co-Champions with Wethersfield; 1953 def. Manchester 3-1; 1952 def. Wethersfield 2-0; 1951 def. Manchester 1-0.
WHAT TO LOOK FOR: This will be the Greenwich defense against the Hall offense. Greenwich has only allowed two goals in the tournament while Hall has scored 15 goals … Hall's offense is paced by UConn-bound forward Lucas Almeida, widely considered the best player in the state, and fellow goalscoring threat Sam Sandler … The Cardinals defense and goalkeeper Nico Figueroa will have to continue their strong play … Greenwich has a few players who can find the back of the net but is offensively driven by forward Lucas Luzuriaga.
YOU SHOULD KNOW: This is a rematch of the 2019 Class LL final won by Hall … Greenwich has won three of its four state tournament games via penalty kicks, including knocking out defending Class LL champion Farmington and this year's No. 1 seed Trumbull in the first two rounds … Hall won its semifinal over No. 3 Norwalk 4-3 (6-5 PKs), advancing to the Class LL title game for the third time in the last four tournaments (no tournament in 2020). This seems like a good time to remind folks that this is the first year state championship games can be decided on penalty kicks.