Morgan girls soccer claimed their first Class S state title in program history with a 2-0 win over Old Saybrook at Trinity Health Stadium in Hartford, Connecticut on Saturday, November 15. Following several decades of never lifting the state championship trophy, the breakthrough finally came after a long fall spent battling injuries and constantly shuffling the lineup. After falling short in last year’s state final in penalty kicks, the Huskies returned to the championship game and were not denied this time.
It was 363 days from Saturday when Morgan lost to Coginchaug in the 2024 CIAC Class S Championship. They tied the Blue Devils in regulation, but were edged out by just one PK after a double overtime period.
After a crushing defeat in last year’s final game, the girls turned their focus to seeking redemption in the upcoming year. They would return a strong incoming senior core that featured four all-conference players from the 2024 season, Sadie Passante, Kate Gardner, Riley Febbroriello, and Cora Deming.
Soon enough, it was September and the 2025 season was underway.
In an unfortunate turn of events, senior captain Sadie Passante, who was the team’s lone all-state recipient from last year, began the season sidelined with an ankle injury for the opening five games.
Without the player that would later become the Shoreline Player of the Year, the girls dropped a game early to the eventual Shoreline Conference champion in Valley Regional on September 8.
By October 10, Morgan had already concluded their Shoreline Conference regular season play with a 7-4 record, with over another week remaining in the regular season. At the time, there was uncertainty in the locker room if they would even qualify for the conference tournament, and their fate was not in their hands.
Passante recalled the team’s thoughts on that date, “We’re not going to win States, we may not even make it to Shorelines.”
Yet after late season matchups fell their way, Morgan ended up as the fifth seed in a six team bracket. Despite key players like Passante, and sophomores Mia Zhimancelia, Colbie LeClaire, and Cassidy Pluck battling injuries throughout various points of the year, the Huskies survived the season with a 10-6 record heading into postseason play.
They traveled to meet No. 4 Old Saybrook on October 22 in the opening round of the Shoreline Conference tournament, where they won in dominating fashion with a 4-0 victory.
A few days later, Morgan hit the road again to face an undefeated No. 1 East Hampton team in the Shoreline semi-final, where they came up short 0-2.
The loss eliminated the Huskies from the Shoreline Tournament, snapping their streak of four consecutive conference titles.
While the team initially felt discouraged, their early exit in the conference tournament fueled them heading into the state bracket. The loss “made us want to win States even more,” Passante said.
After not being crowned Shoreline champions for the first time in five years, the team felt like they let themselves down, their former coach – the late Coach Sullivan down, as well as the past alumni that played, according to Passante.
In response, they immediately began their preparation for the state tournament, where they earned a first round bye and were seeded No. 10 in a 21 team bracket.
“When we lost Shorelines, we made it our goal that we have to win States,” Febbroriello said. “Our assistant coach, Bill Lindsay, brought up how the past two years a Shoreline team has won States that didn’t win Shorelines. We thought that it’s our turn.”
A 5-2 road win over No. 7 St. Paul Catholic advanced Morgan to the quarterfinal, where they took on a familiar conference opponent in Valley Regional, who had just won the Shoreline Final a week prior.
The Huskies escaped with a nail biter victory, ultimately winning the penalty kick shootout by a score of 4-2 after drawing the Warriors for 100 minutes of soccer.
The girls then had a 4-2 win over No. 3 Housatonic Regional at a neutral site, which catapulted them back to the Class S Championship for the second year in a row.
They were matched against the aforementioned No. 9 Old Saybrook, who they had recently defeated in the Shoreline Tournament. In the regular season, however, the Huskies lost 0-2 to the Rams.
“We were confident but not cocky,” Passante said. “We knew that if we played to our ability that we would definitely win.”
Unlike Old Saybrook, Morgan had plenty of State Championship experience on their roster. “We’ve been there before, so we knew how to deal with the pressure, nerves and the overwhelmingness of being in that big stadium,” Febbroriello said.
In their third meeting with the state title on the line, Morgan handled Saybrook with a 2-0 win, capping off a historic state tournament run where despite never playing a home game, Morgan never trailed for a single minute in any one of their matches.
Morgan’s top box score contributors in their final match included goals scored by Zhiminaicela, who was awarded the CIAC Class S Championship game MVP, and senior Kate Gardner. Pluck assisted both.
The storybook ending found this year’s senior class riding into the sunset with 3 Shoreline championships and a State title to finish it off.
Since the calendar flipped to 2020, the Morgan girls soccer program has truly transformed into a dynasty thanks to the efforts of Coach Sullivan and Coach Jon Harder. The past five years includes four straight Shoreline titles from 2021 to 2024, topped off with this year’s State Champion team.
With six underclassmen returning from this year’s starting lineup and several more getting minutes off the bench, along with a strong incoming freshman class, it does not look like Morgan girls soccer will be slowing down anytime soon. “Even with the seniors leaving, everyone on the team is so close and wants to win for each other,” Passante said.
