On the heels of another sensational regular season, the Hand boys’ soccer team began its 2018 playoff journey by squaring off against Shelton in the quarterfinals of the SCC Tournament last week. The Tigers took a 1-0 defeat in double overtime versus the Gaels to move to 12-2-3 overall on the year. Led by first-year Head Coach Greg Cumpstone, Hand now gets ready to compete in the State Tournament as the two-time Class L state champions.

Hand played three games during the final week of its regular season and came away with two wins and a tie for a record of 12-1-3. The Tigers played Guilford to a 1-1 tie on Oct. 22, edged out North Haven by a 1-0 score on Oct. 24 to finish at 6-1-1 in SCC Housatonic Division play, and then posted a 2-0 win over Cheshire in their regular-season finale on Oct. 25.

In the Guilford game, Jason Wallack scored Hand’s lone goal of the day just 17 seconds into the match on an assist from sophomore Scott Testori. Hand outshot Guilford 16-7 and saw senior Clayton Knibbs made six saves in goal.

Facing North Haven, Testori scored the game’s lone goal at the 38-minute mark on an assist by senior Trey Doktorski. The Tigers dominated the shots-on-goal battle by a 14-2 count. Senior goalie Dan Wehrle stopped both of North Haven’s shots to get the shutout.

Against Cheshire, sophomore Jason Wallack netted the Tigers’ first goal just three minutes in and then scored again at the 18-minute mark. Sophomore Jack Wildermann and Doktorski had the assists on Wallack’s goals. The Rams outshot Hand by an 8-6 margin and Knibbs made two saves.

Coach Cumpstone said that Hand showed “incredible character, quality, and fight,” to earn a draw versus Guilford, despite playing down a man during the second half. In the opening seconds of the game, Jack Wildermann played a pass forward off the kickoff, and senior Lee Wildermann was able to bring it down the field. Junior Spencer Hartmann then played a pass into Testori, who slid a pass for Wallack to run into. Wallack slotted the ball past the Guilford goalkeeper to give Hand a 1-0 lead 17 seconds in. The Indians responded and put a lot of pressure on the Tigers’ net, but Knibbs came up with a couple of saves to preserve the one-goal lead.

Following a red card, Hand played a man down for the final 35 minutes of the contest. The Tigers saved and cleared several breakaway attempts by Guilford, before the Indians scored the tying goal on a penalty kick with only 30 seconds left to play.

“I am proud of the performance in the second half and, if we had had a bit more of a cutting edge, then we would have been over the hill and out of sight before penalty kick was even given,” Coach Cumpstone said. “It was a hard way to drop two points, but this is soccer, and we will use it as a learning experience.”

Two days later, Hand hosted North Haven on Senior Night and honored the 11 members of its senior class, who are Wehrle, Knibbs, Zach Cifarelli, Finn Sheehan, Ethan Gulcicek, Matt Cifarelli, Doktorski, Greyson McGeary, Tommy Latorre, Charlie Sullivan, and Lee Wildermann. Hand raced out to a 2-0 lead courtesy of goals from Lee Wildermann and Testori, after which the match was postponed due to lightning with 32 seconds remaining in the first half. However, because the half had not been completed, the match had to be restarted from scratch the following day.

After dominating territorially and in possession throughout the opening half, the Tigers scored the breakthrough goal with a few minutes to play before the break. Doktorski sent an angled pass across the goal, and Testori arrived to smash his finish home off the crossbar and into the net for his 20th score of the year. Hand continued to dominate the game in the second half and, although the Tigers were unable to add to their lead, they still came away with three points behind a 1-0 victory on Senior Night.

“I was happy to celebrate the wonderful work our seniors have done for this program with a win today. This is a fantastic group of 11 leaders and 11 excellent players,” said Coach Cumpstone. “They have shown amazing commitment and dedication to the sport, to their own improvement, and to helping their teammates throughout their high-school careers. They deserve to be honored for all they have done for this program, and I was so pleased that all our seniors played almost the entire game and performed so well. We hope to continue to honor and celebrate them as we begin the postseason.”

The following day, Hand got out to a flying start against Cheshire when a quick combination saw Jack Wildermann put a pass through to Wallack, who finished emphatically off the post after only three minutes of play. Hand doubled its lead to 2-0 a few minutes later as Wallack curled the ball into the top corner of the net on an assist from Doktorski.

The second half had Hand control the pace and limit opportunities for Cheshire. The Rams couldn’t get past the Tigers’ back line of Latorre, junior Jack Green, sophomore Chris Porte, and junior Cole Finke, and they ended the contest without finding a real clear-cut chance to get on the scoreboard.

“I thought we were very solid and tactically organized today. We tweaked the lineup slightly, because we know how strong Cheshire is in midfield, and we wanted to negate their quality there,” Cumpstone said. “I thought we produced a solid, professional performance today and am happy to finish the regular season on a high. Cheshire is one of the best teams in the state, and I thought that our boys coped with most of their threats and were excellent in creating chances ourselves off of some excellent combination play.”

Three days after their regular-season finale, the Tigers opened up the SCC Tournament as the No. 3 seed and lost a 1-0 double-overtime decision at home versus No. 6 Shelton in a quarterfinal clash on Oct. 28. Hand will open play in the Class L State Tournament on Tuesday, Nov. 6.

From the Sidelines

Head Coach Greg Cumpstone’s coaching staff features varsity assistant Liam Isleib, JV coach Doural Scott, freshman coach Ryan Wallack, and goalkeeper coach Matt Thomas.

The Tigers’ team captains are seniors Tommy Latorre, Charlie Sullivan, and Lee Wildermann.

The Class L State Tournament opens on Tuesday, Nov. 6 with first-round play. The second round follows on Thursday, Nov. 8; the quarterfinals are on Saturday, Nov. 10; the semifinals take place on either Tuesday, Nov. 13 or Wednesday, Nov. 14; and the final will be held on Saturday, Nov. 17.