WOODBURY — The No. 18-seeded Nonnewaug girls soccer team won their Class M quarterfinal game against No. 23 New Fairfield, 2-1 (4-1 on penalty kicks), on Nov. 7. This is the first time that the Chiefs have reached the semifinals since 2011.
“We spent our time preparing because we had already seen them once before, and we knew what was coming for us and the key players on the other team,” says senior Ellie McDonald, a center defensive midfielder.
Hailey Goldman scored in the first half. Goldman, Rosie Makarewicz, Molly Hartmann, and Ella Quinn all scored in PKs with Quinn netting the game-winning shot. Savannah Czerepacha made several important saves throughout the night, including one penalty kick in the shootout.
“Once they missed that one PK, I kind of knew that we had it,” Czerepacha said.
It was the second consecutive state tournament meeting between Nonnewaug and New Fairfield which ended in penalty kicks. The Chiefs won that first-round matchup, too.
¨We knew that since last year we brought them into PKs [and won], we knew [we could do it again],” McDonald says. “Obviously, we took the opportunities that we could to score and we did not give up our defense the entire game, which brought us all the way to PKs.”
Hartmann, a senior defender, says that the Chiefs had to put in their best effort to make an historic achievement.
“We definitely locked in and knew that this was either the end of our senior soccer season or this would take us to where we have never been before, which was the semifinal,” Hartmann said.
After losing key starting players from last year’s team, McDonald and Hartmann were afraid of where losing those players would take the team this season. It turns out that this year’s group went further than they imagined.
“It’s just crazy knowing that the past three years we haven’t gone this far and our senior year we finally got here,” McDonald said. “I’m not surprised because I’m proud of us and I know what we are capable of.”
The team plays in the Class M semifinal against No. 19-seeded Northwest Catholic on Nov. 12 at 4:30 p.m. at Willowbrook Park in New Britain.
“We’re definitely going to give it everything we have and leave our hearts on the field,” Czerepacha said. “I’m really excited and I want to go as far as we can.”
