Bernadette Stadler (left) tries to get past Sarah Duckett in a pre-season practice. (Photo by Lisa Aciukewicz)
Despite losing seven players from last year’s squad to graduation, Bromfield girls varsity soccer coach B.J. Pessia said the lineup this year has “no weak spaces.”
Among the departing seven were superstars Emma Rothkopf and Grace Bilodeau. “They [Rothkopf and Bilodeau] were really good, and their loss will be felt, but we do have a lot of depth this year,” Pessia said. “…The team this year definitely has some strong suits that weren’t apparent in last year’s lineup.”
Team co-captain Brittany Lee agreed. “We have so many great players on our team,” Lee said. “We may have lost some of our best seniors, but we gained some amazingly talented girls.”
Last year, the Bromfield girls finished with a record of 15-1-2. Their season ended in the district tournament with a 3-0 loss against Sutton.
This year’s crop of new players comes with already well-honed ball handling skills, Pessia said, skills that come naturally from years of soccer playing, as the no-cut policy in Bromfield girls soccer allows all athletes to play on varsity, junior-varsity, or middle school teams.
“We don’t want to rush players to varsity,” Pessia said. “That way, when they are on varsity, they are definitely ready.”
Pessia also credits the growing popularity of soccer in the Harvard community for her strong team.
“Soccer has become more popular, and Harvard Youth Soccer has become much better,” she said. “Because of this, the skill level of all of our players is so much higher than it used to be.”
Also strong is the team dynamic, the players said.
“The team has great chemistry this year,” said co-captain Molly Papazian. “We all get along extremely well and there are no cliques or left-out players.”
“I definitely think that everyone feels comfortable with each other,” said co-captain Katja Lierhaus.
