Robert Stoddard heard a pop in his right hamstring while being tackled by a defender early in East Lyme’s Class L state tournament second-round game against Simsbury.

It’s the sort of injury that could have ended his high school career and potentially derailed East Lyme’s postseason run.

“I was definitely concerned,” Stoddard said.

A senior, Stoddard returned to action with the Vikings trailing by a goal and scored the game-tying goal on a penalty kick with 4 minutes, 19 seconds left in regulation. East Lyme won 2-1 in double-overtime in the game played on Nov. 9.

Despite their lethal striker’s mobility being limited due to the injury, the Vikings continued their magical postseason march all the way to a state championship, winning the program’s first outright Class L title. They finished one of the best seasons in program history with a 21-1-1 record and also won the Eastern Connecticut Conference Division I regular-season title and league tournament championship.

Stoddard, named The Day’s 2023 All-Area Boys’ Soccer Player of the Year, finished with seven goals and two assists in five state tournament games. He scored a program-record tying 30 goals overall and earned Class L all-state honors.

“It was an incredible season,” Stoddard said. “From the start, we weren’t thinking about a state championship but we had high hopes for the season and high standards. We worked extremely hard in practice. We definitely wanted to win ECCs, first off, and then win the ECC tournament, as well, and get as far as we could in states.

“I would have never dreamed to actually have won it. It was an incredible season.”

Blessed with soccer smarts and a rocket launcher for a left foot, Stoddard was the definition of an impact player.

He delivered in the biggest moment, scoring two goals in a 2-1 semifinal win over Cheshire and two goals in the 3-2 title game victory over Notre Dame-West Haven. He was named the Most Valuable Player of the state championship game.

“In five games, that’s crazy against some pretty quality competition,” coach Paul Christensen said. “He just had the knack to score this year, which is tremendous. That’s the best story. People learned how to mark him but he still found ways off throw-ins or corner kicks or a loose ball, to finish them off.

“He was lethal when he got it on his left foot. He didn’t miss too many. When he hit it, it was going in the goal.”

Stoddard’s mission: Do anything he could to help his team.

After suffering the injury, Stoddard made some adjustments. He took breaks when his hamstring tightened up. He served as a target for his teammates and used his size and strength to win balls in the air.

One of his two goals in the state championship game came via a header on a corner kick.

“It was definitely harder for me to adapt to that,” Stoddard said. “But, in the end, it worked out well.”

A striker since his early days, Stoddard mastered the art of scoring while playing for Southeast Soccer Club.

The Vikings counted Stoddard to deliver this season. They already had experience and stingy defense on their side.

“I can’t take all the credit,” Stoddard said. “We had a lot of good players in midfield and defense that were able to help us get forward and help me score the goals.”

On the quiet side, Stoddard let his game do the talking.

“He has a quiet confidence about himself,” Christensen said. “Last year, he struggled a little bit. He lacked that confidence and scoring ability. At one point, I actually took him out. … This year, he just came off gang-busters for us. That quiet confidence, you could feel as the season went on. He got more and more confident as the season went on.

“He had this goal to tie or beat that (East Lyme season scoring record) and he also understood the importance of the game we played.”

Stoddard hopes to play in college. He’s interested in some Division III programs in New England, including Endicott, Wheaton, Salve Regina, Roger Williams and Connecticut College.

His father, Eric, played at Connecticut College.

“He’s inspired me to play soccer,” Robert said. “I’ve been playing soccer since I was four years old. It’s been my biggest passion in life. Not only do I play soccer, but I also follow soccer. I’m a big Manchester United fan, watching all the games that I can and learning from that.”

The Vikings are still celebrating their state championship season, recently participating in the Niantic Light Parade. They’ve felt the love and support from the town.

“You can really feel that,” Stoddard said. “I’ve had many parents come up to me and be like, ‘My son or daughter plays soccer. They’re really inspired by what you and your team did this season.’ That feels really special to know that we didn’t only do it for ourselves and the team, we did it for the whole town of East Lyme.”

g.keefe@theday.com

The Day’s 2023 All-Area Boys’ Soccer Team

Player of the Year - Robert Stoddard (East Lyme)

Forward - Sal Alessio (Stonington), Louis Hawkins (NFA), Peyton Luther (Ledyard), Griffin Neal (Waterford)

Midfield - Colby Cowan (Montville), Gabe Delgado (East Lyme), Sebastian Fieldsend (Ledyard), Jose Pacheco (St. Bernard)

Defense - Jackson McCarney (Stonington), Tristan Seguin (East Lyme)

Goalie - Adonis Santiago (Montville)

Utility - Michael George (Norwich Tech), Dom Stefanski (East Lyme)