Playing in miserably cold and rainy weather on the fields of the Massachusetts Youth Soccer Association in Lancaster Wednesday afternoon, Bromfield’s girls and boys soccer teams won their central Mass. semifinal games. Each will contend for a Central Massachusetts Athletic Directors Association Division 3 championship in back-to-back games in Marlborough, Saturday, Oct. 30.
In their match against Maynard today, the No. 1-seeded Trojan boys (13-2-1) shut out the No. 4 Tigers (11-3-3) 3-0 in a physical game that saw one Tiger ejected from play and a yellow card for the Maynard coach. Senior Ryan McNulty scored the first Trojan goal about nine minutes into the game on a through ball from midfielder Amlyl AitDowd. A few moments later Jayden Liu converted a corner kick by Alex Myles to put the team ahead 2-0. The final goal came 15 minutes into the second half. Geraghty Vellante sent a free kick into the Tiger goal box and in the scrum that followed, the ball was deflected into the net making the final score 3-0. Goalie Tucker Madison made four saves to preserve the shutout. “He was a rock, as usual,” wrote Coach Alex Horne in an evening email to the Press.
The No. 1 girls (11-2-3) edged out No. 3 Tahanto Stags (14-0-3) by 2-1 in a nail-biting double overtime game, notching their final goal with only 12 seconds remaining before going to penalty kicks. Abby Baker scored the team’s first goal, heading a corner kick by Peyton Van Dorpe into the net. The Stags also scored during the first period, tying the score at 1-1. Bromfield’s winning goal was scored by Van Dorpe on a feed from Baker. “It was a crazy fun game,” wrote Head Coach Katie Greene after the game.
The two Bromfield teams are now headed to the CMADA Division 3 finals where each hopes to claim a division championship.. The boys will play the winner of Thursday’s semifinal between Douglas and Sutton at Marlborough Middle School at 4 p.m. Saturday. Two hours later, at the same location, the girls will face No. 4 Sutton (12-4-1).
