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For a while, the Westhill High School girls soccer team wondered whether its quarterfinal matchup against Hall High of West Hartford would ever end. Thanks to a scoreboard malfunction, that's what everyone at the field thought, too. When the final whistle sounded, the Vikings knew they had beaten their most difficult opponent of the year, 1-0, to move on to the Class LL state semifinals for the second straight year.
"Not knowing how much time was left was extremely stressful. We were asking the ref for the time every time the ball went out," Tessa Dunster said. "Now all the doubters can see that we didn't win [the state championship] out of luck last year. We work really hard, and we'll work to the death if we have to."
The Vikings' strategy against Hall was simple: less is more. Westhill spent most of the match around midfield and just into Hall territory, content to wear down the Warriors. Just two days earlier, Hall had knocked off Greenwich, which had beaten the Vikings in the FCIAC championship. Hall brought a physical style of play that Westhill matched.
Dunster scored the game's only goal with just over a minute to play in the first half. But Kirsten Eriksen did the heavy lifting, darting through Hall defenders and feeding the ball to her perfectly positioned teammate.
"A big goal of ours was to get back to the semifinals and hopefully the finals," Westhill head coach Dave Flower said. "We still try to remember where we came from, though, and we don't take anything for granted. Hall could be the best team we've played this year so far and we did what we had to do."
This is the second time in the school's history the girls soccer team has reached the state semifinals. Westhill will play the winner of Monday's Staples-Hamden game.
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