HARTFORD – At the beginning of the season, Simsbury boys soccer coach Mike McCullough wasn’t sure what he had with his team.

But as the season went on, he said the Trojans started to believe in themselves.

Sunday night, in the Class L soccer championship game, they rallied once in regulation, once in OT, then went ahead and won their first title in 19 years on penalty kicks, 3-2, over Wethersfield at Trinity Health Stadium.

“We were behind both times and both times they fought to come back,” McCullough said. “I’m super proud of them. They never quit.”

Senior defender Emmanuel Lee scored the winning penalty kick to make it 4-3, then Wethersfield’s Joao Fraga missed a shot and Simsbury’s senior goalkeeper Gavin Paradise leapt up off the ground and sprinted to the stands and jumped i

See Full Page