Ledyard — Certainly, a 15-3 season with a division championship should make them very proud in Ledyard. And maybe in time, when the pain of Thursday becomes a duller ache, the boys’ soccer season of 2023 will be remembered fondly.

But it was a painful exit to the Class L state tournament at cloudy Bill Mignault Field, a 3-0 loss for the No. 1-seeded Ledyard High School Colonels to No. 16 Bunnell. Painful because the season ended with a thud. Painful because of all the shouldas, couldas and wouldas.

“In the first nine minutes we had a breakaway and a penalty kick that could have set the tone for the game,” Ledyard coach Bill Glenney said, alluding to two that got away. “That was pretty much the entire day. Missed opportunity after missed opportunity. Their goalkeeper (Michael DiMatteo) made some good saves for them.”

Bunnell junior Diallo Cowan scored in the 11th minute and again in the 37th, this time on a penalty kick, giving Bunnell a 2-0 lead at halftime.

“Even at 1-0, I thought we were good if we could get to halftime 1-0. I thought we were fine. Even 2-0 I thought if we could just put something together and find one we'd be OK,” Glenney said. “But again, I mean, we had four or five golden opportunities that just didn't go in. It's frustrating.”

Ledyard lost to eventual conference tournament champion East Lyme in the regular season and to Norwich Free Academy in the Eastern Connecticut Conference tournament.

“I honestly think the biggest thing is that we just ran out of gas,” Glenney said. “We haven't been very deep all year and we've had a lot of injuries. We have guys that may not admit to being tired, but I think we're just exhausted. You know a 15-1 regular season is great, but it takes a lot out of you. It's the same 12 or 13 guys playing all the minutes.”

This was also the second straight season the Colonels were eliminated in the first round of the Class L tournament. Ledyard is a Class M school by enrollment, but was moved a division higher because the CIAC designates it a “school of choice,” attracting more than 25 students from out of district to the Agri-Science program.

“We shouldn't be in Class L,” Glenney said. “People can criticize me all they want. We are a Class M school that in the last 21 years has had three out-of-town kids. The reason that we were successful in 2021 was because we had two really good players (Nick Washington and Daimon Pollard, both playing college soccer in Division I). We shouldn’t be in Class L, especially for three years. It's a death sentence for every kid in the program.

“You want to put me up for a year? Fine. I still don't agree with it. But look at the roster. How many out-of-town kids do we have? None. We should be able to stay in Class M. It just seems like it should be that simple. And if people want to get on me for sour grapes, I don't really care.”

m.dimauro@theday.com