Bromfield’s one goal came late in the game, scored by senior Eli Fishbein, but it was all that the Trojans (17-4-1) needed to win their third straight MIAA Division 4 State Championship, 1-0, Saturday, Nov. 23, against the hard-charging Jeremiah E. Burke High School Bulldogs (18-5-1) of Dorchester.
Bromfield soccer captains and coaches proudly display their MIAA Div. 4 State Soccer Championship trophy. From left: Coach Alex Horne, Will Armstrong, Pasha Sahin, Marcos Lora, Tom Khuu, and assistant coach Tom Hill. (Photo by Tim Clark)
The match was played under sunny skies on turf at Foley Stadium in Worcester, with temperatures in the low 40s and a wind blowing out of the west from the left end of the field to the right. More than 100 Harvard students and fans filled the middle section of the stands, as the two teams battled for the state division title. It was Burke’s first state championship game and Bromfield’s third in three years.
For 85 minutes of play, neither side was able to score, though both had plenty of opportunities. With the wind at their back, the Bulldogs took the opening kickoff and passed to senior Brener Cardoso, who sped up Bromfield’s left lane and fired a shot that scooted behind the net. Minutes later, Bromfield junior Alex Jorgensen launched a free kick from 50 yards that found a Bromfield attacker in front of the net, but his header was caught by Burke senior goalie Lourenco Pereira for the first save of the game.
And so it went through the first half. Burke’s attackers were constantly on the move, favoring runs by Cardoso up Bromfield’s left side, but the Trojan defense held them off. Neither side could capitalize on free or corner kicks, and at the end of the half, the score was tied, 0-0.
Eli Fishbein doggedly works to score. He connected for the game’s only goal late in the match with Burke. (Photo by Tim Clark)
Following the halftime break, the Trojans and Bulldogs returned to the field with new determination. The wind was now at Bromfield’s back. Five minutes into the half, Fishbein sent a shot from the left lane to senior Marcos Lora at the net. Lora headed the ball toward the corner but the shot was wide by inches. Following Burke’s goal kick, Bromfield returned quickly to the attack. Sophomore Ryan McNulty got free of Burke’s defense, and thinking he had less time than he did, as he told the Press, fired the ball at the net. But Bulldog goalie Pereira had his eye on the play and caught the ball.
Now it was the Bulldogs’ turn to bring the ball back into Trojan territory and, attacking again from the left, surprised Bromfield goalie junior Ethan Fitzsimmons with a shot to the back of the net. But the apparent goal was ruled invalid because the ball had gone out of bounds before being kicked to the goal.
Unfortunately for the Bulldogs, a few minutes later Burke sweeper senior Paulo Goncalves collided with a teammate as they both went for a loose ball, sustaining an injury to his left leg that forced him out of the game. Burke Coach Joao Barros later told the Press that the loss of Gonsalves “totally threw off our dynamics.” But, he added, “That happens in the sport of soccer. We have to be ready for injuries, ready for unexpected things, and I think overall my boys did well.”
Bromfield co-captain Will Armstrong (17) stymies a Burke attack with a high kick away from the Bromfield goal. (Photo by Kent Boynton)
Following a timeout to allow the Burke player to leave the field, play resumed. Burke attacked repeatedly, as did Bromfield. Over the next 10 minutes, Fitzsimmons had five saves. And then, as the game entered stoppage time, with the referees counting down the final five minutes on the field, the Trojans got their break. A nice midfield play sent the ball to junior Jack Yu, who took it down Burke’s left lane. Yu was tripped up by a Burke player, but McNulty was there to take the ball from him and, with a crossing shot, sent it to Fishbein just inside the penalty area. Fishbein drilled it past Pereira, and at last Bromfield had a goal. Fishbein’s play was met with cheers from teammates and coaches, and a roar from alumni and supporters on the sidelines.
Now it was up to Bromfield’s defenders to deliver a victory, and they did, holding Burke scoreless for the remaining minutes of attack and counterattack. “They were a rock,” said Coach Alex Horne, who noted that Trojan defenders did not allow a single goal the entire five-game postseason.
Tom Khuu stretches to save the ball from getting into the possession of a Burke attacker. (Photo by Tim Clark)
“I give a lot of credit to Burke,” Horne told reporters after the game. “They really had a lot of momentum. You could tell they were fighting for it, and they had a lot of heart. We just needed to try to win the ball and string … passes together,” said Horne. “That’s all it took.”
“Our motto this year is ‘find a way,’” Fitzsimmons said. McNulty added, “We always find a way. We may not score at first, but we always end up scoring somehow. So we found a way today and it worked out.”
Erin Flynn is a Bromfield sophomore.
John Osborn contributed to this story.
In the last minutes of play, Bromfield’s Eli Fishbein (9) kicks the winning goal to beat Burke 1-0 and secure the MIAA Div. 4 Soccer Championship. (Photo by Kent Boynton)
Bromfield’s Geraghty Vellante (19) goes up to block a bounding ball as Alex Jorgensen (24) looks on. (Photo by Kent Boynton)
Ethan Fitzsimmons is mobbed by teammates when time expires during the state final match against Burke. (Photo by Tim Clark)
