The Conard Chieftains came out strong on senior night in a rematch against crosstown rival Hall, topping the Warriors 4-1 Thursday night.

By Ronni Newton

Seniors from the Conard and Hall boys soccer teams pose for a photo with their coaches before the game. Photo credit: Anne Marie Riley.

The Conard and Hall boys soccer teams met for the second time this season Thursday night, Oct. 23, at Conard’s McKee Stadium, and this time it was all Conard.

It didn’t immediately appear as if the game would end that way when the Chieftains gave the Warriors a wind-driven own goal at the 26:49 mark of the first half, giving Hall the 1-0 lead.

Then Conard’s John Martin got one by Hall goalie Jeremy Rausch with 10:11 left in the first half, tieing the score 1-1. Three minutes later, senior captain Erik Ribeiro had a breakaway, and the score was 2-1 Conard.

At the 27:15 minute point of the second half, co-captain Sebi Rengifo scored off a corner kick by Stephen Espinal, giving Conard a 3-1 lead. With just over 20 minutes left in the game, Conard sealed the 4-1 win with a pass by Ribeiro to Rengifo for the goal.

Conard and Hall met for the first time this season on Sept. 30 at Hall’s Robinson Stadium, and that time Hall won 4-2.

“They were the better team tonight,” Hall head coach Zeke Seguro said after the game. He said his team looked much sharper in the first meeting between the schools. “The difference was defending. We allowed too much space,” he said.

“It’s disappointing, but I can’t let this game overshadow what we’ve done,” Seguro said. If Hall had won, the team would have earned a spot in the CCC tournament, but Simsbury, which ended the season with an identical 12-3-1 record but topped Hall in head-to-head competition, will instead head to the CCC tourney along with CCC West rival Farmington. Seguro welcomes the time off to allow his team to practice and get healthy before the Class LL tournament begins on Nov. 3.

“It was a powerful thing to have all of these seniors on the field,” Conard head coach Adam Linker said after the victory. “There’s so much chemistry between them, and pride. It takes heart to work together like this.”

Seniors from both Conard and Hall were recognized before the game, and parents of Conard seniors were also honored in a brief ceremony. Although they play against each other on the high school turf, many of the players are friends and have been teammates throughout the years on youth soccer and club teams.

“This is really the culmination of youth soccer,” Linker said. However, he told his players before the game that they wouldn’t want their last regular season game on the Conard turf to result in a celebration for Hall. They listened.

“Sebi [Rengifo] and Erik [Ribeiro] – those two are bigtime players,” Linker said. “Their efforts tonight are just what I would expect … They have been two of my warriors forever, and two of the finest kids I’ve ever had here,” Linker said of his 2014 senior co-captains.

Both Conard, which ends the regular season with an 11-4-1 record, and Hall should have home games when the Class LL tournament pairings are announced on Oct. 31. Tournament play begins on Nov. 3.

Despite windy, chilly, and damp weather, a large crowd was on hand supporting both teams, including student fan groups The Tribe and The Reservation. All fans behaved in a sportsmanlike way, and the teams played a good, clean, well-officiated game.

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