Amity shuts out Hand, wins SCC girls soccer title after 20-year championship drought
· Yahoo Sports
WEST HAVEN - The Amity girls soccer team got through the gauntlet that is the SCC unbeaten during the regular season.
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Then the Spartans added three more victories in the league tournament, including a 6-0 blitz of Hand in the final Wednesday night at Ken Strong Stadium.
The feat was impressive for the Spartans (15-1-3), even with the three ties. They were able to accomplish it without Maggie Kershnar, a 2025 GametimeCT First Team All-State selection who is out for the season due to a knee injury. Kershnar will play at UConn next season.
It also included three wins over Mercy, a team that has had plenty of success in the SCC this decade.
"We knew we were the No. 1 seed and we had to perform like the No. 1 seed and tonight, we did," Amity girls soccer coach Owen Quigley said. "We didn't give Hand a chance to settle on the ball tonight."
Olivia Huber had two goals and two assists to earn the SCC Tournament's Most Outstanding Player award and lead the way for Amity, which won its first SCC championship since 2006.
"I feel like that's something we've really focused on this season, trying to be the first team to score because that really kind of dictates the rest of the game," Huber said.
Quigley was at Amity for that 2006 title - a win over Mercy - and the Spartans went on to share the Class LL title with Trumbull.
Amity went 15 seasons without reaching the SCC final. It has now reached the championship game three times this decade.
The Spartans' only loss this season was 2-1 at Glastonbury, which won the CCC championship and is still undefeated.
"That's 20-plus goals we lost this year (without Kershnar) and we had to find a way to make it and we did," said Quigley, pointing out that Amity has 14 shutouts this season. "Our defense is really, really good."
Tea Bocek had two goals and an assist for the Spartans, who led 3-0 at halftime.
Hand (11-5-3) struggled some toward the end of the regular season, but was able to pull off two upsets in the SCC tournament, beating No. 2 Notre Dame-West Haven and No. 3 Cheshire - both on the road and both shutouts - to reach Wednesday's championship game.
But the Tigers couldn't stop the Spartans.
Now, Amity, the No. 7 seed, will try to return to the Class LL championship game for a second consecutive season. They fell to Greenwich last year.
The Spartans could face Mercy for a fourth time in a second-round home game. Glastonbury, Ridgefield and Trumbull are also in Amity's half of the draw.
"We'll be a hard out for anybody," Quigley said.
Player of the Game
Olivia Huber, Amity: Had two goals and two assists to help Amity win the SCC championship.
Quotable
"There's some really amazing teams in this league that have given us a really hard time, so staying as a close-knit team and working together really helped us."
- Amity junior Olivia Huber on going through the SCC unbeaten.
Amity 6, Hand 0
Hand 0 0-0
Amity 3 3-6
Scoring: Amity - Juliana Kershnar (Liisu Melville), 8:28; Tea Bocek (Alyce Glenney), 16:15; Olivia Huber, 25:27; Bocek (Huber), 48:08; Huber (Bocek), 51:28; Katy Kingston (Huber), 62:26.
Records: Hand 11-5-3; Amity 15-1-3.
This article originally published at Amity shuts out Hand, wins SCC girls soccer title after 20-year championship drought.