The 2022 postseason saw the Greenwich High School boys soccer team win four games in penalty kicks on its way to winning the CIAC Class LL championship.

Well, the 2023 postseason began in similar fashion for the Cardinals, who didn’t go to penalty kicks with Danbury in Friday’s FCIAC Tournament quarterfinals, but last season, did have to work overtime for the win.

After 80 minutes of scoreless action, second-seeded Greenwich scored two goals in overtime to post a hard-fought 2-1 victory over seventh-seeded Danbury in the FCIAC Tournament quarterfinals on Friday at Cardinal Stadium.

Greenwich (12-2-2) advanced to Monday’s 7 p.m. FCIAC semifinals, where they will play third-seeded Trumbull at Fairfield Ludlowe High School. Trumbull eliminated Greenwich in the FCIAC semifinals last fall, but the Cardinals avenged the loss by defeating the Eagles in the second round of the 2022 Class LL state tournament in penalty kicks.

In Friday’s FCIAC quarterfinals against Danbury, senior defender/captain Andre Meier and senior forward/captain Maximo Ferrario had a goal apiece for the Cardinals in overtime, which consisted of two 10-minute halves.

The Hatters had the possession advantage in the first half and created several scoring chances, but the Cardinals raised their performance-level in the second half.

“The second half we really turned it around, we stepped it up,” said Ferrario who helped pace Greenwich’s offensive effort. “Danbury is a team that goes out there and gives it everything. We had to come out and try to control the game. In the second half we did much better job of holding the ball and finding those passes behind.”

Following 81 minutes of scoreless play, Meier gave Greenwich a 1-0 lead on Danbury. He directed a free kick into the box and the ball bounced off a Hatters defenders head, over the head of the goalie and into the net for a goal, giving GHS a 1-0 lead with 8:21 left in the first 10-minute overtime session.

“I didn’t really expect it to go in,” Meier said of the own goal. “I was just going to put it on the penalty spot and let our big boys go in and it ended up going off the defender’s head, so that was pretty surprising. I’ll take it.”

Ferrario gave the Cards a 2-0 advantage with 4:16 left in the first 10-minute overtime period. Receiving a pass from senior captain Gerardo Guerra, Ferrario had time to line up his shot and he booted the ball from 40 yards out for a goal, making it 2-0.

“Gerardo passed it to me, I had a little space and I knew that you have to take a risk sometimes and see if it goes in or not,” Ferrario said of his goal. “I tried to hit it bottom low and it went in.”

Danbury cut Greenwich’s lead in half, closing to within 2-1 with 8:55 in the second 10-minute overtime half. Senior forward Manuel Catarino tallied for the Hatters, who threatened to score at the 6:40 mark, but GHS junior goalie Miguel Leon made a key save.

Leon’s save with only 59 seconds remaining in regulation off a shot from close in kept the game a scoreless tie, enabling the Cardinals to head into overtime. He entered the game with 9:18 left in the second half after starting goalie Fin Junius, a senior, was kneed in the hip while making a save. Both goalies played well for Greenwich, with Leon finishing the matchup.

“It’s been rough, because I haven’t been playing a lot,” Leon said. “I’m coming back from an ACL injury. It’s incredible coming on and making that big save in the second half. We could have lost our season if that went in.”

Leon also made several more saves during overtime for the Cards, who defeated the Hatters during the regular season 2-1.

“I stood my ground and thankfully, we won,” Leon said of making the saves.

“He made a really good save left in the second half,” GHS coach Kurt Putnam said of Leon. “He kept us in it.”

Jackson Siguenza, Luiz Montesdeoca and Nahim Torres created scoring opportunities during the first half for the Hatters, but Junius registered a pair of clutch saves, while Meier and junior Mink Van Tuijl helped lead the Cardinals’ defensive effort.

Greenwich rose to the important occasion in the second half, gaining much-needed momentum.

“We started pressing more in the second half,” Putnam noted. “In the first half, we were very slow to anticipate, very slow to react, very slow to close down and they’re a good technical side. If you don’t have the ball you can’t do what you do well, which for us, is attacking with speed.”

At halftime, Putnam and the Cardinals discussed what needed to be done in the second half of their FCIAC quarterfinal versus the Hatters.

“At halftime, I said we don’t have the ball enough and when we do have we are losing it,” Putnam said. “They rose to the occasion in the second half. As the second half wore on, we grew more and more into the game. By us putting ourselves more on them and pressing them, their midfielders weren’t able to get further down field to hurt us.”

Said Ferrario: “At halftime, we talked about closing the space in the midfield. We gave them a little bit too much space in the midfield and keeping possession of the ball, which is not the game we like to play, where we’re defending the whole game. We tried to squeeze those center mids we were able to regain possession.”

The game’s first goal relieved some pressure off Greenwich.

“We got a little bit lucky with the free kick,” Putnam said. It was a lovely, deep free kick off the defender’s head and over the goalkeeper. Max’s goal was a quality finish and that’s what he’s capable of doing.”

“In the first half it wasn’t great how we played, but in the second half we started connecting more passes and we just played better overall,” Meier noted. “Defensively, it was quite the challenge, especially at the end. They started bringing more players up and we rose to the occasion.”

“Winning this game in the tournament is the first step for sure, hopefully, we have many more steps to come,” Leon said.