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Stamford's Noel Vargas controls the ball near midfield against Trumbull. (David G. Whitham)
Boys Soccer
Stamford Ends Trumbull’s Run At A Three-Peat On Fedeli’s Late Goal
Dave Ruden Reporting From Trumbull
10.23.2024
As the FCIAC boys soccer regular season was winding down and the eight pieces to the playoff puzzle were starting to take shape, Trumbull coach Sil Vitiello identified one team he and his colleagues wanted to avoid: Stamford.
The Black Knights, despite an 8-3-5 record, struggled at times and left some points on the field, one reason it qualified by the uncomfortable margin of what amounted to a pair of ties, the second to last team in.
“We didn’t show up to a few games and that’s why we dropped to the seventh seed, but we have all the confidence in the world,” Stamford coach Mike Summa said. “We knew we could beat some of these great teams because we showed during the regular season we can compete with anybody.”
Vitiello’s second biggest fear took hold when his second-seeded Eagles, which had won two straight and four of the last five conference titles, were paired with the Black Knights. The biggest occurred with 3:30 remaining, when a header off a long set piece caromed off the crossbar and Owen Fedeli was free off the bounce to head the rebound into the goal to give Stamford a 3-2 victory in a rematch of last year’s enthralling championship match.
“I just remember my striker hitting the ball and it goes off the crossbar and it falls right to me and I just hit it back across goal,” said Fedeli, one of the heroes of Stamford’s runs to both the FCIAC and CIAC Class LL finals last season. “We were up and down this season, ties that we should have won. But we know what we’re capable of. There was never really a dull moment with the team this season all the way through.”
In a sport where parity rules but form usually holds in the first round, top-seeded Greenwich will be joined in the semifinals by No. 5 Brien McMahon, No. 6 Danbury and Stamford, which lost by the same 3-2 score in overtime to Trumbull in last year’s championship. The Eagles, who have appeared in six of the last seven finals, were eliminated in the first round for the first time since 2010.
“That’s not your typical seven seed,” Vitiello said. “It was a team that was talked about as a top two or three team in the conference and you saw why, but we had our opportunities too, we just didn’t take advantage of them. We had a couple of very early scoring chances.”
Stamford will meet Danbury, a 6-0 winner tonight over Darien, on Saturday in the first of two semifinal games at Fairfield Warde.
Tonight’s match was wide open from the opening whistle, but chippy, with a number of hard open-field fouls. One, made out of frustration with 20 seconds left, nearly led to a fight as both teams converged and one player from each was assessed a red card. There were a number of yellow cards.
The Eagles were twice forced to come from behind. The Black Knights took a lead in the fifth minute on a shot from in front by Felipe Stefanzuk. The Eagles’ Christian Moura finished a set piece by Jaden Lima in the 39th minute to send the game into the half tied.
Stamford regained the lead 19 seconds after the break, as Jared Relayze found Noel Vargas, who got behind the defense and beat the keeper. The Eagles again equalized eight minutes later. Moura was taken down by goalkeeper Marc Zampino. Off the ensuing set piece, Luca Solustri banged home a shot following a scramble in front.
The score remained deadlocked and another postseason overtime between the teams was being cued up. Then Fedeli struck and memories of last year’s postseason immediately sprung to mind.
“Last year he did the same thing in the playoffs and turned it on,” Summa said. “That was a big goal again. He thrives in this limelight. He’s a tremendous leader. Trumbull was looking to go back to back to back and we know this is a difficult place to play. To get a win in this environment is a really great thing for us.”
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