Connecticut Soccer Playing Large Since the '40s

By Bob Herman

Connecticut may be the third smallest state in the United States in terms of area, but its high school soccer history and current-day matches are anything but small.

The first high school championship soccer match in the Connecticut Interscholastic Athletic Conference's (CIAC) history occurred in 1948 when the boys of Wethersfield High School defeated the boys of Moodus Hale Ray High School, 2-1.

The boys and girls soccer divisions now are divided up into four different classes -- LL, L, M and S -- based on the number of people in varsity programs enrolled in grades 10 through 12, and there is a state championship for each class.

"We use the Connecticut official enrollment figures annually tallied on October 1 and reported to the state department of education," CIAC Assistant Executive Director Dave Maloney said. "Once we had sufficient enrollment, we opened up new divisions.Our philosophy in all sports has always been to provide a quality tournament and recognize as many champions as appropriate.It has been working quite well."

Class LL, the largest class, is relatively newer compared with the others. The boys division first adopted the LL class in 1975, while the girls division adopted it in 2000.

"We [created more classes] for balance, so some of the bigger schools don't dominate," CIAC Boys/Girls Soccer Tournament Director Charlie Sharos said. "If we didn't break it down like that, the competition would be one-sided."

The boys Class LL features many older schools with reputable soccer histories. Simsbury High School won the Class LL state championship last year; Glastonbury High School won it in 2005; and the two schools were co-champions in 2003. Farmington High School, Naugatuck High School and Guilford High School also have strong histories, especially within the past decade.

New Canaan High School has captured the state title the past two years in boys Class L, and Wethersfield has had a durable program since its initial state championship.

Suffield High School took home the Class M state trophy last year, but North Branford High School (back-to-back state titles in 2003 and 2004), Granby Memorial High School (which recently was bumped up into this class) and Rocky Hill High School also have traditionally strong programs.

Last year in the boys Class S championship, Manchester East Catholic High School defeated Cromwell High School, 3-0, and other schools such as West Hartford Northwest Catholic High School and Lebanon Lyman Memorial High School have given their fans much to cheer about in the past 10 years of Class S soccer.

High school girls soccer didn't start in Connecticut until 1980 when Storrs-Mansfield E.O. Smith High School defeated Windsor Locks High School, 5-0.

"The girls game grew in direct proportion to the Title IX legislation passed in 1972 and parallels the growth of girls sports in Connecticut, in general," Maloney said.

Since then, though, girls soccer and high school soccer in general has become much more influential.

"It's growing very, very rapidly," Sharos said. "It's gained a lot of prestige and momentum in the past 10 years, and it's a growing sport in Connecticut."

This will only be the eighth year for the CIAC's Class LL in the girls division, but many schools have already made marks in the class. There have been three co-champions in Class LL since 2002, and schools such as Trumbull High School (four straight state titles in Class L from 1996 to 1999), Cheshire High School and Simsbury High School have had continual success.

Wilton High School, the alma mater of notable American soccer player Kristine Lilly (a mainstay of the U.S. women's national team since 1987 and current captain of the team), won last year's Class L state championship. Since the inaugural girls soccer season, Wilton has won 10 state tournaments, more than any other girls team. Farmington, Guilford and New Canaan also have performed well in Class L tournaments.

Suffield has won the past two Class M girls state titles and was runner-up in 2004. Class M also includes strong programs such as Granby Memorial, Weston High School and Avon High School.

Lastly, the girls Class S has featured competitive play from many schools, especially Danbury Immaculate High School. Immaculate has earned five Class S state championships since 1995. Cromwell, Rocky Hill and North Grosvenordale Tourtellotte High School have finished high in past state tournaments as well.

The season officially began on September 11 for both the boys and girls divisions, and the state tournament will be held November 5 to 17 for the girls and November 6 to 17 for the boys.

Thirty-two teams from each class qualify for the tournament, and for a team to be eligible for the tournament, it must have won at least 40 percent of its games against varsity opponents.

Sharos said that a site has not been picked yet for this year's finals, and it is sometimes hard to acquire a site. If the games are to be played at night, a field with lights is necessary.

Many schools are now using lights and newer artificial surfaces (textured grass "carpet" that is packed with sand and rubber beneath it), which helps Sharos find an adequate site, but much revolves around what is available to the tournament staff and him.

Because of soccer's growing popularity, the crowds at the final and semifinal matches have grown, too. Sharos said that crowds have gotten as big as 2,000 people, but the soccer class and teams make a difference for the crowd size.

"In general, the crowds are very acceptable, especially in the finals and semifinals," Sharos said. "But it depends on who's playing and where. I think that helps with attendance."

According to the 2006-07 NFHS High School Athletics Participation Survey, soccer has now spread to 173 schools with 6,990 participants in the state. Only 18 other states have more soccer participants than Connecticut, which is no small feat for a state of its size.

"High school soccer is one of our most popular sports in terms of both number of schools fielding a team and number of participants," Maloney said."The influence of soccer -- across the globe -- in both boys and girls teams has had a positive effect on our student-athletes."

Herman is a fall semester intern in the NFHS Publications/Communications Department. He is a junior at Butler (Indiana) University majoring in journalism (news editorial) and minoring in Spanish.