Battling under grey skies and drizzle Saturday morning at Marlborough’s Charles Whitcomb Middle School, the No. 1 seed Bromfield boys edged out the No. 4 Douglas Tigers 3-2, to win the first-ever Central Massachusetts Athletic Directors Association Division 3 championship.
Temperatures hovered at 54 degrees. The artificial turf of Noble Field was slick and rain incessant, falling in a fine spray or intermittent showers. The lights remained on for both halves. Umbrellas sprouted in the stands, but staying dry was a challenge for everyone. Some spectators sat while others chose to stand along the sidelines.
The Trojans, in blue jerseys, were first to score. Twelve minutes into the first half, senior Jayden Liu headed a well-placed corner kick from junior Alex Myles into the Tiger net. And 10 minutes later, senior Amlyl AitDowd fired a low shot that rebounded off sophomore goalie Gavin Gualtieri and rolled toward junior Tafera Vera, who put it away.
Left: Bromfield’s Ryan McNulty (14) stays ahead of a Douglas onrusher. McNulty later scored the winning goal with a penalty kick. Center: Liam Morrison (dark jersey) manages to head the ball against an airborne Douglas defender. Right: Bredan Listzwan (3) gets to head the ball before a Douglas player can. (Photos by Kent Boynton)
A fired-up Tiger team pressured Bromfield as the second half began, scoring twice to even the score 2-2. The Trojans’ winning goal came with less than six minutes remaining. As he pressed an attack from the left, dribbling past three defenders, AitDowd was fouled inside the Tiger penalty box by Gualtieri as AitDowd was about to shoot. Senior co-captain Ryan McNulty took the penalty kick and sent the ball past Gualtieri into the upper right corner of the Douglas net to seize a 3-2 victory for his team.
“Douglas—they were the classiest team we played all year,” said McNulty after the game. “They were clean as a whistle, but very, very fast.” He said his team had lost focus at the start of the second half, and because Douglas was a good team, “they took advantage of that.” Regarding the penalty that gave Bromfield its winning goal, McNulty said he could respect a team “that fouls when it needs to.” He said he wasn’t too nervous as he prepared to shoot. He had practiced penalty kicks “a lot” and knew he was going to put it in. “But to be honest,” he added, “it was a ‘pressure penalty’—the biggest one of my life.”
The CMADA matches were the brainchild of the organization’s administrators, who conceived the series as a way to preserve the traditional Massachusetts Interscholastic Athletic Association sectional matches formerly held this time of year. Central Mass. soccer and field hockey teams gave up the final two weeks of their regular season to take part in the championship playoffs. Every team got to play at least twice.
All eyes are now on the MIAA Division 5 State Championship, which begins Friday. Of the 80 schools in Division 5, 43 have qualified for the playoffs. Bromfield is the No. 1 seed and, after a first round bye, will play either No. 32 South Shore Vocational or No. 33 Pioneer Charter School of Science at home Saturday, Nov. 6. Bromfield will need to win its next four matches to reach the finals—where it could once again face Douglas.
