Glastonbury working toward another Connecticut girls soccer title

One sometimes expects to hear genius or masterful philosophy on building a championship program, that attaining the status came via a special system of plays and training that only the greatest coaching minds know about.

Success often comes from the simplest of things, first and foremost hard work. That's been the case for the Glastonbury (Conn.) girls' soccer program. They even practiced after last October's freak nor'easter that dumped heavy snow on the region and knocked out power in some areas for over a week.

"We were out there running without soccer balls every single day," Glastonbury coach Joe Finocchiaro said. "We went out on the turf to run and break up the snow. We shoveled."

All that labor paid off for the Tomahawks as they won their first CIAC state championship after losing in six previous final appearances.

Now comes the hard part for Glastonbury — defending its Class LL title and not getting complacent. It's already off to a 3-0 start and remains one of the top teams in the state.

"The first thing we tried to do was to put (last year) in the past and understand that this is a new year," Finocchiaro said.

"I think they've responded pretty well. In the beginning, everybody was kind of still in that championship mode. It sort of took a while for sure, and that was understandable with all of the banquets we attended. We had gone to banquets all the way up until April."

Soccer is a big deal in Glastonbury. Finocchiaro said that the program annually has 75 to 100 players in it. This year's team is light by comparison as 73 tried out, and there are 66 girls in the program.

The Tomahawks also have a strong feeder program as the Glastonbury Hartwell Soccer Club has close to 3,000 kids, with around a thousand playing on travel teams, Finocchiaro said.

"One of our strengths is our depth," Finocchiaro said. "We're very deep on the bench. They're pretty good athletes in terms of speed and strength and skill."

Six starters returned from the 2011 championship team, among them senior co-captains Kate Smith (center midfield), Katie Connolly (center back) and Kristen Dragotta (forward).

Smith will attend UConn next year. Dragotta scored what proved to be the game-winning goal in last season's Class LL championship win over perennial power Trumbull. She and Connolly also both ran on Glastonbury's 2012 Class LL champion indoor track team.

"Katie has been on varsity all four years, and the other two are three-year players," Finocchairo said. "Katie is just extremely tough. Last year versus South Windsor, she went to head a ball with the keeper. She took 22 stitches to the forehead. She's basically our enforcer in the middle of the field.

"Kristen is an All-American sprinter. She's one of the top sprinters in the state. Katie Connolly is an All-American sprinter in relays."

The other returning starters are juniors Sydney Keane (right back) and Madeline Riggot (forward), and sophomore Madeline Gray (left back).

"They understand that there's 30-plus years of other girls putting on those Glastonbury shirts and working hard," Finocchiaro said about his team. "They realize the history and tradition that we've been trying to build, and hopefully we can continue that tradition."

Ned Griffen has covered high school, college and professional sports in the Northeast since 1992. A 2003 New England Associated Press News Executives award winner, he may be reached at nedgriffen@gmail.com.