Senior Mitchell Williams goes airborne to head a ball in a game against Ayer last Saturday. (Photo by Lisa Aciukewicz)
The Bromfield boys soccer team conquered a physical Littleton Tigers team, a fan base that was largely rooting for their loss, and questionable rulings by the officials Tuesday to advance to the Central Massachusetts semifinals. Meanwhile, the Trojans’ female counterparts played at home and handily defeated the Littleton Tigers girls soccer team by a score of 3-0.
The boys team advanced to the quarterfinals after squeaking past the Ayer Panthers last week in a shootout that ended in a 1-0 win for the Trojans. The girls team made it to the quarterfinals by way of a 9-0 win over St. Mary’s.
The Bromfield boys came into the playoff game as the sixth seed, looking to upset their third-seeded Littleton opponents, who had only two losses during the regular season.
Fifteen minutes into the first half, Littleton missed a great opportunity to score when diving striker Sam Keutzer headed a ball toward the goal and past Bromfield keeper Will Nocka’s dive, but the ball bounced off the goal post. The rebound came to midfielder Mike Buraczynski, who had an open net in front with Nocka trying to recover from his dive. However, Buraczynski shot wide of the net, unable to capitalize on an excellent scoring chance for his team.
However, Littleton scored just 10 minutes later on what appeared to be a questionable call. Nocka slid to save a shot on the ground from Littleton striker Mike Joyce. A charging Buracyznski knocked the ball out of Nocka’s hands onto the goal line. The ball was then cleared out of the box by McCollough. However, the ball was ruled a goal after the officials ruled that Nocka had dropped the ball of his own accord, and the ball had crossed the plane of the goal.
The two teams fought back and forth for the remainder of the half. Littleton had two chances to add an insurance goal when their shots bounced off the posts on consecutive possessions. Bromfield relied on quality play from Nocka, McCollough, and defenders Mitchell Williams and Hunter Siegrest. Bromfield’s offense struggled, though, managing just four shots on goal in the half.
Bromfield looked like a new team in the second half. The Trojans’ strong defense transformed into a new offensive attack. Bromfield had seven shots on goal through the first 20 minutes of the half.
Finally, Bromfield’s efforts paid off when an Andy Tabrizi free kick into the box was deflected into the air via a header by midfielder Isaac Cohen. Bromfield striker Derek Silver leapt through the defensive zone to beat Littleton keeper Matt Mizzoni, and the 5-foot, seven-inch Silver headed the ball over the 6-foot Mizzoni to give Bromfield its first goal of the playoffs.
Bromfield’s offensive attack paid off once again when junior striker Brenton Stoddart put a hard pass through the middle. The pass was deflected toward the net by Littleton stopper Franco Magurn. Silver cut through the defense to finish the shot past the out-of-position Mizzoni and give Bromfield the 2-1 lead.
The game ended with Bromfield running the clock down with short passes through the neutral zone.
Bromfield fought through 22 fouls by the Littleton team, the highest total fouls against them this season. The next highest total by an opponent was 13. Bromfield also had a season-high nine corner kicks on the afternoon.
Strong Bromfield defense prevented Littleton from even taking a shot in the second half. Nocka finished the game with four saves. Bromfield had 15 shots on the game.
The team faces Lunenburg next.
Trojan women oust Littleton
The top-seeded Bromfield girls team handily defeated their Littleton opponents at Harvard Park on that same afternoon, by a score of 3-0. Senior Grace Bilodeau had two goals and an assist in that game. Sophomore Riley Osgood had a goal and an assist. They will go on to face the fifth-seeded Sutton team.
