The Bromfield Trojans boys soccer team improved to 4-0-1 Monday, Sept. 20, at Pond Field with a 5-0 win over the Lunenburg Knights.
Bromfield assembled just 13 shots all game, with nine on goal, but they were very efficient in those attempts. They got their first shot on goal in the 20th minute of the first half, when senior striker Derek Silver found fellow striker, junior D’Vonne Williams, outside from 20 yards out. Williams shot a bullet past the dive of Lunenburg goalie John Lahti.
Bromfield was inconsistent in its efforts, however, and the defense had to work hard to keep the Knights off the scoreboard. But Lunenburg players didn’t help their own cause, managing to have four offside calls against them before they even managed a shot on goal.
Coach Tom Hill credited the shutout to defenders captain Isaac Cohen and junior Brian McCollough, saying they did a great job stopping any chances their opponents might have had.
Bromfield players missed some opportunities for themselves, unable to even muster a shot off any of their four first-half corner kicks. Yet they were able to add a second goal after a strong throw-in from Silver to junior striker Sam Elkind. Elkind’s shot was caught by keeper Lahti, but Lahti was unable to keep himself in front of the goal line, and stepped inside for Bromfield’s second goal of the game.
Bromfield came out of halftime with a 2-0 lead, and the team came out strong, with Williams striking again to extend Bromfield’s lead to 3-0. Silver found him on a breakaway, and Bromfield’s leading goal scorer fooled Lahti, adding his second goal of the afternoon and Silver’s third assist.
Williams was not done, though. When he cut through the Lunenburg defense and junior midfielder Jack Landry hit him with a hard pass outside the penalty box, Williams sent a slow roller past the reach of Lahti for his career-high third goal of the game.
Freshman Paul Malloy impressed with some minutes off the bench, not waiting long to capitalize on a long pass from teammate Andrew Miller and a mistake by the Lunenburg defense. Malloy received the pass beyond the defense, and waited for Lahti to commit to coming for the ball. Lahti did just that, and Malloy extended the score to 5-0 for his second goal of the year and Miller’s first assist.
Coach Hill said after the game that the team’s problems all stemmed from inconsistency. “We were so good sometimes,” he said, “but very poor other times. We really had some great chances that we [capitalized on] a few times but other times, it was ugly.”
Cohen said that the biggest thing the team needs to work on is depth. “These games aren’t a great test of our abilities,” he said. “We need to play better games going ahead against the strong opponents. We need to have consistency from all our players, and we need to step up our game to play in the tough games.”
Tabrizi, too, was frustrated with the team’s consistency. “We kept losing the ball,” he said, “and we had some very weak plays, but it was great to see D’Vonne do well.” Williams has five goals on the year.
“We just didn’t possess the ball long enough,” Hill said. “We didn’t have the intelligent play we need. We need to contain [the opponent] and keep them spread out… Overall, we just need to play more cerebral.”
Looking ahead, Hill said that “the 5-0 result against a solid team is a good result, but it could have been even better.”
