2026 CIAC boys soccer tournament: What you need to know from the first two rounds

Cromwell's #10 Benjamin Burdick tries to keep possession as Housatonic's Jerron Nirschel steps in to defend during the CIAC boys Class S soccer tournament second round at Cromwell High School in Cromwell, Conn., Monday, November 9, 2026. (Dave Zajac/Hearst Connecticut Media) The first round of the CIAC boys soccer tournaments was held Friday and Saturday, while the second round largely took place on Monday. Here is the full schedule and scoreboard for the tournaments.Here is what you need to know.Big UpsetsClass LLNo. 15 McMahon takes down No. 2 Xavier:The biggest upset in the Class LL tournament thus far took place in the second round, when No. 15 McMahon took out No. 2 Xavier in PKs 3-2. It was the first loss of the season for Xavier. McMahon's Matthew Chen scored a goal and had an assist, before also scoring one of the goals in PKs. Xavier was the SCC champion, but McMahon did not even make the cut for the FCIAC tournament. No. 14 Hamden upsets No. 3 South Windsor: Another second round upset saw the exit of the CCC tournament's runner-up at the hands of the SCC's Hamden. The Green Dragons defeated South Windsor 3-2, and will travel to No. 6 Greenwich in the quarterfinals. Hamden had lost in the first round of the SCC tournament to Hand, but has now knocked off two CCC teams in states. No. 25 West Haven knocks off No. 8 Stamford: The biggest upset in the first round was West Haven taking down the FCIAC tournament's runner-up in Stamford. West Haven, which lost 6-0 to Xavier in the first round of the SCC tournament, beat Stamford 3-2 on the road to open the Class LL tournament. West Haven did get eliminated by NFA in the second round, but it certainly shook up the bracket before elimination. No. 20 Southington hands No. 13 Naugatuck its first loss: After a season that included Naugatuck claiming its third straight NVL title, its Class LL tournament hopes were immediately dashed by a Southington team that had gone 9-3-2 in the regular season and had missed out on a spot in the CCC tournament. Southington defeated Naugatuck 2-1, but the Blue Knights went on to lose to CCC champion Glastonbury 3-0 in the second round. No. 23 Manchester upsets No. 10 Ridgefield: Manchester was one of those teams that was better than its ranking, showing the ability to compete at the highest level at times during the regular season. It took down Ridgefield 11-8 in penalty kicks during the first round, but fell to No. 7 Fairfield Prep in the second round 3-0. Still, Manchester in the regular season had tied Tolland, defeated Glastonbury 3-2, and tied South Windsor. Class LNo. 15 E.O. Smith takes out No. 2 Avon: The highest seeded knockout of the Class L tournament thus far happened in the second round, when E.O. Smith took out No. 2 Avon 5-3 in penalty kicks. E.O. Smith had only gone 6-7-3 in the regular season, so taking out a 11-2-3 team from the same conference is an impressive feat. E.O. Smith will now get another CCC opponent in No. 7 Middletown. No. 12 Newtown over No. 5 Newington: Newtown represented the SWC well. After not making the cut for the conference tournament the Nighthawks defeated the CCC tournament's No. 2 seed 4-2 in PKs. Gabe Marques scored Newtown's goal in regulation while Emanuel Orozco made a key save in penalties to help Newtown advance to the quarterfinal round where it will face No. 4 Berlin. Class MNone: The Class M tournament has only seen one seeded upset in its 24 games played so far. In the first round, No. 19 New Fairfield defeated No. 14 Joel Barlow 2-0, as the pair of SWC teams played for a second time this season. New Fairfield had defeated Barlow in the regular season as well, 2-1, so this does not count as an upset. Class SNo. 11 Canton over defending champ No. 6 Somers: Only one defending 2025 champion has been eliminated so far, and that team is No. 6 Somers of Class S. No. 11 Canton took down Somers 2-0 in the second round. It doesn't get much easier from here for Canton, which has to play against No. 3 East Hampton on the road on Thursday. Conference BreakdownsHere we take a look at the breakdown of the 32 remaining teams across the four tournaments, and which conferences are represented. The total breakdown is as follows: The CCC has the most teams remaining with seven total. Both the FCIAC and Shoreline Conference have the second most teams left standing with five (all five of the Shoreline teams are in Class S). The ECC and SWC both have four teams left (ECC counts Stonington vs Lyman Memorial as one, as it is the lone second round game yet to be completed and both teams come from that conference). The NVL, CTC and GNH conferences are all eliminated. CCC (7); FCIAC (5); SLC (5); ECC (4); SWC (4); SCC (3); Berkshire League (2); NCCC (2). Here is a breakdown by class: Class LLFCIAC (4): Staples, Trumbull, Greenwich, McMahonSCC (2): Fairfield Prep, HamdenCCC (1): GlastonburyECC (1): NFAClass LCCC (4): Berlin, Middletown, Simsbury, E.O. Smith SWC (3): New Milford, Bethel, NewtownFCIAC (1): Wilton Class MCCC (2): Tolland, Lewis MillsECC (2): Waterford, Bacon AcademyBL (1): NonnewaugSCC (1): HandSWC (1): WestonNCCC (1): SuffieldClass SSLC (5): Cromwell, East Hampton, Haddam-Killingworth, Old Saybrook, Valley RegionalBL (1): NorthwesternECC (1): Stonington OR Lyman MemorialNCCC (1): CantonGametimeCT Predictions AuditGametimeCT's Will Aldam made his tournament predictions ahead of the first round, so now we will take a look at where those predictions stand through the first two rounds.Class LL: The Class LL predictions are already blown up quite significantly, with No. 3 South Windsor selected to reach the finals. South Windsor's second round exit blows that up, as did No. 2 Xavier's loss, which was one of the teams predicted to reach the final four. Predicted winner No. 1 Staples is still alive, as is the other final four finisher Glastonbury. Class L: Still completely alive, all of the predicted final four teams (No. 1 New Milford vs. No. 4 Berlin, No. 7 Middletown vs. No. 3 Bethel) have reached the quarterfinals. Class M: Just like in Class L, these predictions are still in tact after the second round. The final four predictions included No. 1 Waterford, No. 5 Hand, No. 2 Weston and No. 3 Tolland, with Tolland defeating Hand in the championship game. Class S: Three of the four teams predicted to reach the final four are through to the quarterfinal round in No. 1 Northwestern, No. 2 Cromwell and No. 3 East Hampton. The other team, No. 4 Stonington, is still alive but has yet to play its second round game. Stonington was predicted to reach the final, where it falls to Cromwell. Sign up for the Connecticut Briefing from CT Insider. Get the biggest headlines of the day from our network of journalists around the state.This article originally published at 2026 CIAC boys soccer tournament: What you need to know from the first two rounds.