After a hard struggle under a cloudy sky, Bromfield defeated Grafton 14–12 in a very close home game on Tuesday, April 19.
The game opened with the sun promptly disappearing, leaving the grassy playing field relatively cold. After a tense “Who will, we will” from Bromfield and two intense struggles off the draws, juniors Meaghan Parlee and Kaeli Armstrong both scored quick goals, hoping to set the tone for the game.
But after watching Bromfield push past their goalie twice in three minutes of playing time, the Grafton girls decided to fight back. Senior Grafton captain Gianna DiPinto easily won the draw to the loud cheers of her fellow teammates and fans, and she passed the ball down the field. Three shots were blocked by Bromfield’s goalie, senior Maddie Ragno, who was able to pass the ball back to her teammates and allow Parlee to score again.
Grafton was not pleased and called a timeout. The Grafton players returned strong and scored their first goal, bringing the score to 4–1. Bromfield responded in kind, with goals from seventh-grader Izzy Planchet, Parlee, and Armstrong. Scuffles were accentuated by Bromfield’s pockmarked field, leading one Grafton fan who was used to turf’s fast gameplay to yell, “Come on girls, you gotta pick up the ground balls!”
Grafton then scored again, after initially losing the draw but receiving the ball after a Bromfield penalty. And once again, Bromfield responded forcefully with three more goals from Parlee, Courtney Route, and Sophia Turchetta. Grafton and Bromfield then traded shots to the end of the half, with two more goals from Grafton and one from Bromfield.
The second half opened with Bromfield hoping to further its lead and decisively win the game. But Grafton didn’t intend to treat its six-goal deficit as insurmountable. Grafton scored the first goal after DiPinto again won the draw. Bromfield and Grafton traded shots, bringing the score to 13–6 when Grafton picked up its pace. DiPinto consistently won the draws and pushed her team to score five times. Bromfield attempted to continue scoring, but Grafton picked up its defensive intensity so much that at one point, Turchetta had four girls covering her.
Lead too great to overcome
And with the timer/scoreboard malfunctioning, neither side’s players had a clear idea of how much time was left in the game. With three minutes to go, Parlee, with an assist from Turchetta, scored, along with DiPinto. As the clock ticked down, Grafton kept the ball firmly near Bromfield’s goal, but their deficit from the first half was simply too much to recover from.
Grafton’s DiPinto had a very good game, gaining control of the draw nine times and scoring four of the team’s goals. Ragno of Bromfield also played extremely well in goal, making 12 impressive saves.
Head coach Renee Bailey of Grafton acknowledged, “We knew this was going to be one of our toughest competitions of the season, so we were all very excited to play them again,” which assistant coach Karl Moisan furthered by pointing out, “It’s a healthy rivalry.” Bailey went on to comment on the game, saying, “They [Bromfield] came out very aggressive and strong in the first half, and it took us a few minutes to get used to that, and by a few minutes I mean the first half … [The game was] two completely different halves.”
Bromfield coach Dave Planchet also recognized the “complete difference” between the two halves. He said, “First half, I thought offense was clicking and defense was playing great. Second half, I thought we made a lot of mental mistakes and they put more pressure on our defense.” When asked if he was looking forward to potentially playing the team again in districts, he responded, “Yeah, yeah, we’ll see them again. Definitely.”
Later in the week, Bromfield lost to non-league opponent Dover-Sherburn, 9–8, in an away game on April 22. The team trounced Leominster High School 16–2 on Tuesday, April 26.
Kate Selig is a Bromfield freshman.
