​Glastonbury’s #4 Brady Nilsen celebrates his go-ahead goal with teammates during the second half of a CIAC high school boys soccer match against Tolland at Glastonbury High School in Glastonbury, Conn., Tuesday, September 15, 2026. (Dave Zajac/Hearst Connecticut Media)
GLASTONBURY – With 15 seconds remaining in a 1-1 tie against two-time defending CIAC Class M and Central Connecticut Conference champion Tolland, Glastonbury senior captain Brady Nilsen scored a goal that put the Guardians firmly on the boys soccer map.The 2-1 victory over the Eagles on Tuesday was emblematic of a team determined to course-correct. After going 6-7-4 last year, Glastonbury is off to a 3-0-0 start. With 13 seniors on coach KC Warren’s squad, it was hardly a secret that Glastonbury was expected to improve. The Guardians were picked as the fifth-best team in the Class LL/L preseason coaches poll and rose to No. 2 after defeating Middletown 3-1 and Simsbury 4-1 in the opening week.”There is an ebb and flow to high school soccer, even at Glastonbury or any other programs that have had traditional success,” Warren said. “I think a big part of this is that we have 23 committed soccer players. In the offseason, these guys were really committed to their craft, and in the summer, attendance was very high on optional training. We just have some dudes who lived something that they didn’t enjoy very much last year, and they put their heads down and worked. They are seeing the fruits of their labor at this point.”The Guardians have 17 returning players from last year’s junior-heavy squad, which was eliminated in the first round of the Class LL tournament as the No. 23 seed. There have also been new additions to the team after the Oakwood club soccer team moved from MLS NEXT to the ECNL, meaning it is no longer a year-round commitment. Those additions include Porter Lopez and Adam Kukulka, who were with the team two years ago, and newcomer Colin Gaudet.”This is a group that gets tighter every day, which has historically for us been kind of the magic ingredient,” Warren said. “The key is that close-knit nature in that locker room. We are seeing a lot of that, a lot of sacrifice for each other and senior leadership.”With high expectations surrounding Glastonbury, Tuesday’s game lived up to the hype. Tolland went up 1-0 in the second half, but the Guardians were able to mount a comeback despite being down a man due to a red card.”Honestly, it is a great feeling, you go down 1-0 and then you get a red card. The last thing you want to do is put your heads down,” senior Max Gattinella said. “We kept fighting, and everyone worked together. We got one and then we got another. We had all the momentum and it just feels great to come back down a man.”Kukulka scored the game-tying goal with just under 12 minutes remaining, and Nilsen sealed the victory with his goal in the final minute. “I think (Nilsen) might have broken his finger earlier in the game,” Warren said. “But he taped it up