Beacon Falls — Ledyard High School has become the official party crasher of the CIAC Class M boys' soccer tournament.

The 12th-seeded Colonels navigated their way through a difficult wind and a quality opponent to edge No. 4 Woodland 2-1 on Friday afternoon in a quarterfinal match, joining three teams — No. 1 Ellington, No. 2 Stonington and defending champion Plainville — in next week's semifinals.

Ledyard is the only remaining final four participant not to reach the semis a year ago and will play Ellington on Tuesday at a site and time to be announced.

"Ellington will be difficult for us, no doubt," Ledyard coach Bill Glenney said. "They're the No. 1 team in the state for a reason. They've had only one loss the last two years, and that was in the state final (to Plainville). We're certainly going to be the underdog because we're newcomers to the party, but we're playing well and happy to still be playing."

The Colonels (15-5) battled Woodland to a scoreless opening 40 minutes, which Glenney said "was perfectly fine" because Ledyard was forced to play directly into a pretty fierce wind.

Ledyard needed only three minutes to take advantage of the wind at its back in the second half as Daimon Pollard beat a Woodland defender on the outside, sent a cross into the middle, and Nick Washington one-touched a shot into the net from 12 yards. Out.

Pollard and Washington, both sophomores, hooked up to make it 2-0 with 10 minutes remaining. This time Pollard played another ball to Washington, who drilled a shot into the side of the net from 20 yards out.

Washington now has 23 goals and Pollard has 20 assists, both sophomore records.

"I knew we would score goals this year," Glenney said. "I just wasn't sure what the defense would bring because we didn't have a star central defender. But we're averaging close to four goals a game on offense and the defense is nothing flashy, but I've got a bunch of guys that play hard and take it personally if the ball goes in the net."

Woodland held a 19-12 edge in shots and goalie Blake McLeod made eight saves before leaving late in the game after colliding with a Woodland player. Woodland scored its goal with 46 seconds left.

"They were a good team," Glenney said of Woodland. "They had more opportunities, but not a ton of great ones because our defense did well in the final third."

H.S. volleyball

• Waterford bounced back from a 27-25 loss in the first game to win the next three (25-19, 25-15, 25-18) and defeat third-seeded Nonnewaug in the Class M quarterfinals. The No. 11 Lancers (20-5) will play No. 15 Haddam-Killingworth, a 3-0 winner over No. 23 Bacon Academy, in Tuesday's semifinals at a site and time to be announced.

Ryleigh Gonyo had 16 kills for Waterford, which has won seven straight matches, while Sabrina Kobyluck added 28 assists, Angela Colonis had nine aces, Briana Muckle 15 digs and Rachel Miller nine kills.

H.S. football

Quarterback Jack Cox was 13-of-19 for 280 yards and three touchdowns as Valley/Old Lyme defeated Old Saybrook/Westbrook 35-12. Colby Andrews, DiAngenlo Jean-Pierre and Brian Rankin (four catches, 117 yards) all caught touchdown passes for the Warriors (3-5, 3-2 Pequot-Sassacus). James Marsden added a four-yard scoring rush, and Ben Conrad recorded two sacks as well as a rushing touchdown.

College field hockey

• Freshman Sophie Hamilton scored just 50 seconds into sudden death overtime as UConn rallied to defeat Fairfield 2-1 in the second round of the NCAA Division I tournament in Storrs. The second-seeded Huskies (19-3) will play No. 9 Princeton for a spot in the Final Four on Sunday in the quarterfinals at 1 p.m. Princeton defeated Syracuse 5-1.

UConn trailed 1-0 before Svea Boker scored her 23rd to tie the game in the second half. The win was a milestone moment for UConn's Nancy Stevens, giving the legendary coach her 700th career win.