The Bromfield boys soccer team continued its playoff run with a resounding 6–1 win over district rival Sutton.
The game drew an enormous hometown crowd for Bromfield. Some “superfans” dressed in full Trojan costumes, face paint, and wearing the trademark Mohawk hairstyle sported by the Bromfield team. Despite the disparity in the ranking between Bromfield, the number 1 seed, and Sutton, the number 8 seed, the game was anticipated to be very close. The Trojans won the regular season meeting between the two sides by a slim margin of 1–0.
The game did not start the way the Trojans hoped. The first 15 minutes were marked by a lack of controlled possession from the boys in blue. The Sutton Sammies were able to win a majority of aerial challenges, which presented problems early for the Bromfield defense. Disaster struck for Bromfield when Sutton star player Joe Senecal lofted a cross to the far post that was headed in by Sutton forward to give the Sammies an early 1–0 lead in the first half.
The Sutton lead would not last for long. In a short five minutes Bromfield junior Cody Osgood lofted a header off a perfectly-taken corner kick from senior outside midfielder Jeff Messina to tie the game. Minutes later, Osgood took a pass from a center midfielder and buried a low shot into the far corner to give Bromfield the lead. The Sutton defense remained resilient for the rest of the first half, while Bromfield was plagued with poor passing, rushed defensive clears, and few numbers in the offensive zone.
The second half was dominated by the Trojans. Using the energy of their fans, the team sought to jump on the Sammies early to put the game away for good, an they did just that. Bromfield got its first goal of the second half when Osgood sent a low cross through the Sutton 18-yard box to Messina, who ripped an unstoppable shot into the top right corner to increase the Trojan lead to 3–1. Minutes later, another cross by Osgood was put away by a center midfielder to make it 4–1.
Bromfield’s tremendous offense was matched by a lock-down effort by the defense. The corps of Ben Landry, Kevin Molinaro, Lars Nordgreen, Connor Davy, and Zach Clements prevented the Sammies from posing any significant offensive threat in the second half. Most importantly, the Bromfield defense neutralized the threat of Senecal, who scored more than 30 goals during the regular season for Sutton.
The Trojan blues continued their offensive crush late into the second half. Senior co-captain Scott Nussdorfer took a perfect flick-through from Osgood, dribbled around the goalkeeper, and netted a close shot to make it 5–1. Osgood fed a center midfielder minutes later to round the score out at 6–1.
“We started out a little slow but we were able to really pull it together as a team and play our own style of soccer” said Nussdorfer.
