On a night where a trip to the Class M state championship was on the line, it seemed fitting that someone named Mills would play a big part in a Lewis Mills girls soccer victory.
Senior captain Riley Mills is that aforementioned player, and she scored twice in a 3-0 victory for the fourth-seeded Spartans over the No. 16 Tolland Eagles on Tuesday night at Veterans Stadium in New Britain. Lewis Mills will play for a state championship for the first time since 2018 this weekend when they face off against No. 19 Northwest Catholic-West Hartford.
Junior Lily Castle had a goal and an assist while sophomore Natalie Urso added an assist. Steady junior keeper Anna Henry recorded 13 saves and has allowed a single goal over the four games that her Spartans have played.
Mills is joined in her leadership role by fellow senior captains Leah Mischke and Allison Bonini. There are also seniors Gemma Goshdigian, Lilah Sikorski, Taytum Fitzgerald, Sarah Merchant and Ava Calabrese. The Spartan head coach Kofi Remey. He is assisted by Kelsey Hartsoe and Quentin Lux.
Lewis Mills is 1-2 all-time in state championship games with the lone win coming in the 2018 Class M final, 2-1 in overtime over Plainfield. The Spartans lost finals to Suffield in 1998 in Class S and 2010 in Class M.
Lewis Mills got to the final with wins over No. 29 Sheehan-Wallingford (3-0), No. 13 Stonington (3-1), No. 21 Weston (4-0) and Tolland.
Northwest Catholic reached the final with wins over No. 14 Daniel Hand-Madison (2-1 in 2 OT), No. 3 Bacon Academy-Colchester (1-0, 3-0 PK), No. 22 East Hampton (4-1) and No. 18 Nonnewaug-Woodbury (4-0).
Northwest Catholic and Lewis Mills have a couple common opponents from this season. The Lions were 0-1 against Farmington and 1-0 against Wethersfield. The Spartans lost twice to the division foe RiverHawks and once to the Eagles. The Lewis Mills loss to Wethersfield came in the CCC tournament. Lewis Mills and Northwest Catholic didn’t play each other during the regular season or the CCC tournament.
The Class M championship game is this weekend (Saturday or Sunday) at Trinity Health Stadium in Hartford.
