2026 CIAC girls soccer tournament first round is complete. What you need to know
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The first round of the CIAC girls soccer tournaments was held Friday and Saturday. Here is the full schedule and scoreboard for the tournaments.
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Here is what you need to know.
Seedings hold to form
The new tournament format, which factors in strength of schedule, seems to have kept seeded upsets relatively rare so far. Previously, it was just winning percentage that was used to seed the four divisions.
In Class L, all 10 first-round games were won by the higher seed. In Class S, 10 of the 11 higher seeds prevailed, and the one seeded upset was a 17 beating a 16.
There were three seeded upsets in Class LL: No. 21 New Canaan over No. 12 Conard, No. 19 South Windsor over No. 14 Darien and No. 18 Fairfield Warde over No. 15 Fairfield Ludlowe. Seven of the nine higher-seeded teams in Class M advanced. No. 18 Plainville eliminated No. 15 Woodland and No. 17 Lakeview beat No. 16 Nonnewaug.
This system is designed to reward teams for playing a difficult schedule. For example, Darien came in with a 7-8-1 record, but had the No. 14 seed in LL, instead of being 23rd. In the end, the Blue Wave were one of the seeded upsets in the first round.
Lacrosse went to a similar power points system a few years back, with the better teams getting lower-numbered seeds and two of the top three or four seeds having a better opportunity to reach the state final.
You can dominate a game in soccer, run into a hot goalkeeper and lose 1-0.
So we shall see how many higher-seeded teams reach the semifinals.
Goalkeeper sportsmanship
A number of CIAC tournament games will be decided by penalty kicks. Maybe even in the state finals.
The battle for Fairfield supremacy came down to penalty kicks on Friday between Ludlowe and Warde. The two goalkeepers, Warde's Cece Meyers, a senior, and Ludlowe's Jules Conrad, a junior, were able to get through both regulation and overtime without allowing a goal.
Warde coach Kim Rasmussen noted the sportsmanship between the two goalkeepers - both of whom she coached at the youth level - through the PK session.
"After making big saves, the two goalkeepers exchanged high fives, celebrating and acknowledging each other's efforts," Rasmussen said in an email. "Even after Jules stepped up to take a penalty kick herself and scored against Cece, the two exchanged another high five. In a moment when the pressure was at its highest, and one team's season was about to end, these two athletes showed everyone what high school sports should truly be about."
It was Fairfield Warde, the No. 18 seed, that prevailed (4-3 in PKs). The Mustangs travel to Ridgefield on Tuesday to face the second-seeded Tigers at 2:30 p.m. in an All-FCIAC matchup.
"Their ability to put their friendship, mutual respect, and admiration for one another above the rivalry and the outcome of the game was something truly special to witness," Rasmussen said. "It was a beautiful reminder that while winning is important and competition brings out incredible passion, the relationships, character, and lessons developed through athletics are what matter most."
Fantastic four
A couple of unbeaten teams lost for the first time in league tournaments: Simsbury in Class L and Ridgefield in Class LL. That leaves four teams still remaining unbeaten.
Three of them are in LL: Top seed St. Joseph, No. 3 Glastonbury and No. 5 Notre Dame Prep, the respective FCIAC, CCC and SWC champions. The other one is East Hampton, the top seed in Class M and the Shoreline Conference champion. East Hampton also has no ties.
So at most, two teams can finish the CIAC tournaments unbeaten.
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