Omar Al-Homsi slips past his Quaboag rivals.(Photos by Lisa Aciukewicz )
The Bromfield boys’ varsity soccer team began its playoff run with a 1-0 win over Quaboag in the first round of the district tournament on Monday, Nov. 3. Freshman Reilly Fitzsimmons scored the lone goal of the game in the victory.
Bromfield, with an overall record of 10-6-2 for the regular season, entered the playoffs having scored no goals in the past two games. Quaboag, with an overall record of 6-8-4, came ready to try to make the next round of the tournament as well.
The first half began with aggressive offense by the Trojans, which almost immediately created a scoring opportunity with a corner kick. Unfortunately freshman Jack Armstrong headed the ball over the crossbar. Shots came aplenty in the half, but Bromfield failed to hit the net, as did Quaboag against Trojan goalie Ben Cadman. Senior Adam Lorenz-Kruk failed to score several times, accumulating a total of seven missed shots for the entire game.
Pressuring the
Quaboag defense
Working their way through the half, the Trojans kept putting pressure on the Quaboag defense. At the same time, however, Quaboag was able to get close enough on offense to attempt to score. With less than 10 minutes remaining in the half, Fitzsimmons scored the only goal of the game after receiving a cross from Armstrong, making it 1-0 Bromfield. Fitzsimmons had an opportunity to score a second goal before the half ended, but his shot was wide.
As the second half began, Bromfield launched a series of attacks, but the team failed to put points on the board as multiple shots on goal missed their mark. Bromfield also continued to have issues with turnovers and passing. Despite their lackluster defense, however, the Trojans managed to prevail, thanks to Cadman’s stellar performance as goalie. He stopped Quaboag’s best chance to even the game by blocking two back-to-back shots, and getting a goal kick out of the mix. His excellent game allowed Bromfield to edge away with a 1-0 win.
“We didn’t play at our full potential,” Cadman said at the end of the game. “We know we can do better.”
Bromfield went on to beat Littleton 1-0 on Nov. 5. The team will now move on to the district semifinals. See harvardpress.com for details.
Michael Jarosz is a senior at the Bromfield School.
Reilly Fitzsimmons winds up for what would turn out to be the game-winning goal.
