Junior Andrew Miller keeps the ball away from senior Will Nocka at a practice on Sept. 14 .(Photo by Lisa Aciukewicz)
The Bromfield boys soccer team closed out their first week of the season on a high note, defeating the Littleton Tigers by a score of 6-0, for their second win of the season. The win helped Bromfield remain undefeated through three games, with a 2-0-1 record.
Bromfield had a scoring opportunity just seconds into the game, when junior striker D’Vonne Williams missed an opportunity on a breakaway off the opening kickoff that would have put Bromfield ahead. The team missed another chance to pull ahead when Littleton keeper Matt Mizzoni saved a bullet from Williams and then made a diving save on senior striker Derek Silver’s shot later in the play.
Strong Bromfield defense stopped Littleton’s only true scoring chance of the game, when senior captain Isaac Cohen, the stopper, deflected a hard Littleton shot, and junior defenders Brian McCollough and Hunter Siegrist stifled an attempt for a shot off Cohen’s rebound.
Bromfield’s scoreless streak through the starting 20 minutes of the first half was broken on a strange play,in which a Jason Mandozzi throw-in led to a goal to put Bromfield ahead. The goal put Bromfield ahead for good.
The senior midfielder took an out-of-bounds ball and did a flip, his signature throw-in move, to hurl the ball toward the Littleton net, where Littleton keeper Mizzoni jumped to stop the ball, and tipped it into his own net. Littleton was initially awarded a free kick because rules state that a player cannot throw the ball in the net for a goal. However, this decision was overturned when officials conferenced and decided the goalie did, in fact, touch the ball before it went into the net. The goal was officially ruled an “own goal,” but players and fans alike were impressed with Mandozzi’s throw.
Silver did not wait long to add to the lead, when he received a pass from Williams at the left side of the 18-yard line. He shot Williams’ pass off the far goal post, where it bounced in to make the score 2-0.
Bromfield came out of halftime determined to add to their lead, and Silver helped them do just that when he sliced through the Littleton defense and fed a pass to junior Jack Landry, who found the back of the net, past Mizzoni’s diving reach. Silver finished the game with a goal and an assist.
Bromfield’s seniors used a play of their own to capitalize on a free kick midway through the second half. Silver, Cohen, and captain Andy Tabrizi conferenced around the ball before the shot, setting their plan of action. Tabrizi set the ball, and put his hand in the air to signal the play to start. Cohen and Silver cut across the goalie box to distract defenders, and Tabrizi sent the ball into the top right corner of the net for his first goal of the year.
“Isaac, Derek, and I had done that in practice a few times,” Tabrizi said about the play. “So once we knew I was going to shoot we decided to use Isaac’s and Derek’s runs to distract the goalie and draw defenders away from me to give me a better look at the goal.” Tabrizi’s strike upped the lead to 4-0.
Bromfield’s reserve players then had their chance to make an impact, and strong defensive play from junior Mitchell Williams and seniors Colin Nygren and Sean Thurston kept the ball on their team’s offensive end. Nygren had an assist on freshman Paul Malloy’s first goal of his varsity career, which came on a hard shot from outside the goalie box. Senior Hunter Granville referred affectionately to the goal as Malloy’s “laser show.”
Bromfield’s final goal came with minutes left in the game, when junior Peter Nocka fed D’Vonne Williams just inside the penalty box for Williams’ second goal in as many games. Williams finished with a goal and an assist.
Bromfield senior captain and goalkeeper Will Nocka played about 60 minutes of the game and saved both of Littleton’s two shots on goal. Those were the Tigers’ only two shots all game.
Solid play from Bromfield’s reserves led to the final two goals of the game. Tabrizi said that he was “completely satisfied with [the reserves’] performance. They really held their own.” Coach Tom Hill echoed his statements, saying that he was “very impressed with how they played.”
However, Cohen still saw areas in which the team could improve. “Our mid-fielders and defense did a great job creating offense for us. The passes were there for our offense, we just needed to finish those passes … The lead could have been much bigger than it was.”
Hill said that there were points at which the team looked “really good,” and that he was impressed with the number of chances the backfield created. Nevertheless, Hill, too, was frustrated by the forwards’ “inability to convert.” He said that Bromfield’s biggest problem was losing possession of the ball going toward the goal, and that players need to “keep their composure.”
Overall, Hill said, his team was able to “raise the level of play.” He looks forward to stronger opponents, because he thinks that “going forward, we’ll pick it up against teams like Sutton or Lunenburg.”
Bromfield had 15 shots on goal in the game, and they converted six out of their final eight shots.
Bromfield started off the season last Wednesday with a 1-1 tie against rival Groton-Dunstable, in which a Dylan Osgood header was their lone score.
Last Saturday, Bromfield played a solid game against Nipmuc Regional High School and came out on top 2-1.
Their goals came on a Williams feed from Osgood and a corner kick that Tabrizi curved into Cohen, who jumped above a crowd in the penalty box to chest the ball in. Keeper Nocka had 17 saves in both of Bromfield’s first two games.
Bromfield’s next game will be Monday at Harvard Park against Lunenburg High School.
