In a meeting of crosstown West Hartford rivals to end the regular season, Hall defeated Conard 1-0.

Sports reporting is sponsored by Keating Agency Insurance

By Paul Palmer

Two teams heading in different directions played a close, entertaining match, with Hall making Kyra Baun’s 25th-minute goal stand up in a 1-0 win over Conard in the regular season finale for both sides.

The Titans have lost just once all season and came in with a mark of 11-1-3, having gone 3-0-2 over their last five. The Red Wolves had been on a five-game losing streak, had not secured a victory in their last seven, and were just 6-6-3 after starting the year 6-1-1.

Conard still qualified for the post-season. “It feels good to place in our first states game in many years,” said Conard coach PJ Louis after the game. Both sides will make the LL tournament, and Hall will also qualified and will play in the CCC tournament starting on Thursday.

“This is a young team that has a chance to be excellent,” said long-time Hall head coach Scott Ferguson.

Hall had the best of the offense to start things with Alex Ackerman using her skills to get the ball in on the Conard net, forcing goalie Evelyn Black to push it wide. The Titans got off shot after shot – several went wide, others were deflected by the Red Wolves defense.

Just under 15 minutes in, Baun got off a great shot from the left side that beat Black to the far side to make it 1-0.

The Red Wolves backline of Caitlyn Farrell, Brooklynn Knowles, and  Asha Comiso, among others, did their best to withstand the constant attacks from Hall. With 3:48 to go, the visitors nearly doubled their lead  but their shot went over the bar from about 15 yards out.

Conard did not have many chances, but nearly pulled even when a cross off a thrown-in was ticketed to the far side of the goal before Hall’s Maya Reilly calmly cleared the ball off the lines.

“We played good in the first half,” said Ferguson. “It should have been 3-1 or 4-1 at the half.”

Louis felt his team recovered their spirit about halfway through the first. “They outplayed us for the first 20 minutes, but we were dangerous the last 20 and just couldn’t buy a goal.”

When the second 40 minutes began, Reilly and Baun were wearing out a path down the left side of the offense, but the Titans could not finish it off with a score. Conard had a good chance about 16 minutes in when a free kick from midfield landed on the foot of a Conard attacker, but her shot went wide. Less than 20 seconds later it was Hall goalie Mabel Cook charging off her line to clear a ball from danger, just ahead of an attacking player.

“In the second half they imposed their will on us,” Ferguson said of Conard. “We can’t have that happen to us as we go forward.”

Both sides had chances to score as the clock wound down, with Conard failing to get on the end of another well placed free kick from near midfield. Hall saw Reilly make a big run up the right side and sent a cross into the box, but Chloe Lynch’s one-timer was off target.

Conard was forced once again to play without Annabel Tracy and senior Alice Araya who are both still out with injuries. “We dealt with injuries all season,” Louis said. “We battled through it.”

The Red Wolves finish at 6-7-3 and most likely will have to take part in a play-in game when the Class LL Tournament pairings are announced.

The Titans wrap up the regular season at 12-1-3 and were seeded No. 6 in Class LL prior to the game with Conard. Ferguson knows that his defense has been a big part of those wins, even with a very young team.

“We have 11 shutouts and have not scored a ton of goals,” he said. “We have done enough each game to compete and win. I love this team; we are young but it is a good team.”

On the season, Hall gave up just 10 goals, giving up three of those goals in an 8-3 win over Middletown, and never surrendering more than two in any other game. In their wins, seven were by two goals after a pair of blowout wins to open the season.

Conard scored just five goals total in their final eight games of the regular season and were shut out in five of those games. In four of their final six losses, they only lost by a single goal and posted six clean sheets of their own on the season.

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