Lily Castle, right, and Riley Mills, left, hug after Castle scored during Saturday’s Lewis Mills girls soccer Class M state championship game against Northwest Catholic at Trinity Health Stadium in Hartford. Castle scored twice, on two assists from Mills, and the Spartans won, 2-1.
The message from Lewis Mills girls soccer head coach Kofi Remey to his team was to finish the job.
The Spartans had played in the Class M semifinals in 2023 but lost. That loss helped fuel a run through this year’s semifinal round and into the state championship game against Northwest Catholic-West Hartford at Trinity Health Stadium in Hartford.
The fourth-seeded Spartans got two second half goals from junior standout Lily Castle, then held off the hard-charging Lions, the No. 19 seed, for a 2-1 win and the Class M state championship.
“In the summer, we’re like ‘OK guys, we have a countdown to the state championship,’” Castle told NBC Connecticut after the game. “We all knew that we would make it, but now we’re actually here and it’s actually so real.”
Castle was named MVP for her efforts.
“I know I can trust her and the team, so I’m just so proud of her. We’ve all worked so hard, too,” said senior captain Riley Mills.
Mills assisted on both of Castle’s goals. Junior keeper Anna Henry made 15 saves, including three huge ones in the second half. One came when she punched the ball over the crossbar. Another came when she outraced Northwest Catholic junior standout Maeve Staunton to the ball and corralled it. Henry also caught a long shot in the final 30 seconds of the victory.
The first half was a scoreless battle, but it didn’t remain scoreless for long after halftime. In fact, the scoreless tie lasted all of 1:35. That’s how long it took Mills to find Castle for her first goal. Senior captain Allison Bonini stopped a Lion shot on the goal line for a big save.
With just under 20 minutes to go in the game, Castle took a pass from Mills into the box, then beat Northwest Catholic junior keeper Abigail Casper (15 saves) with a shot into the left corner for a 2-0 lead.
That second goal turned out to be massive. With just under 14:30 to play, Henry punched a Staunton direct kick over the bar. Madeline Rudy scored just over two minutes later on a beautiful cross from Staunton to get the Lions within 2-1 at the 12:11 mark. Henry got to the ball before Staunton for a save at 4:21, then stropped a direct kick at 3:19 to go. When Henry calmly caught a long shot for her 15th and final save in the waning moments, the Spartans were able to celebrate their title.
Lewis Mills girls soccer has won two state championships, with the first coming in 2018 while it was still a member of the Berkshire League.
GALLERY: Here are my photos from Saturday’s game.
