The No. 1 seed Bromfield boys soccer team silenced their doubters Saturday night by shutting out No. 2 seed and perennial rival Sutton 3-0 at Doyle Field in Leominster and winning the Massachusetts Interscholastic Athletic Association Division 5 championship for a record-setting fifth consecutive year.
The boys soccer team poses for a photo after beating Sutton 3-0 to clinch the MIAA Div. 5 State Soccer Championship, Nov. 19. Top row, from left: Coach Tom Hill, Hunter Granville, Coach Nathaniel Adelson, Logan Ostaszewski, Theo Myles, Chris Demetros, Liam Morrison, Finn Candon, Tucker Madison, Tafara Vera, Colin Heart, John Wilkins, Jack Babcock, Vasilis Psathas, Gavin Holt, Théo Bradley, Lucas Bala, Colin Martel, Colin Holt, Sam Secor, Coach Josh Stoltzfus, and Head Coach Alex Horne. Bottom row, from left: Liam Glew, ball boy Miller Reichenbach, ball boy Eric Suchecki, Eli Labbe, Tim Khuu, Thamin Surya, Ryan Donahoe, Murvin Yu, Connor Glew, Alex Myles, Brendon Listzwan, Ethan Russo, and Coach Chris Marrese. (Photo by Lisa Aciukewicz)
The Trojans dominated the field from the start. Sophomore forward Brendan Listzwan scored twice, slipping a deflected ball into the Sutton net barely four minutes into the game, and then scoring a second time, 36 minutes later, tipping in a shot by junior Christopher Demetros. Senior Liam Morrison scored the team’s third and final goal on a punt from goalie Tucker Madison with a shot from the right side of the net, past senior Sutton goalie Connor Mulderig. It was the team’s final goal of the season.
“I needed that,” said Morrison as he left the field to join the post-game celebration. Having also scored the first goal of the team’s 2022 season, Saturday night’s parting shot was a fitting end to Morrison’s career with the Trojans.
“We knew we had to come out and strike first—in the first 10 minutes—which is what we did,” said Coach Alex Horne after the game. “Sutton is a defensive team. We knew we had to break down their defense and that once we scored one, we would be able to get a few more in the back of the net.”
Captains Tucker Madison, Théo Bradley, Alex Myles, and Coach Alex Horne receive the state championship trophy. (Photo by Lisa Aciukewicz)
Credit for the shutout goes to senior co-captain and goalie Tucker Madison, whose flawless performance in his final Bromfield match included more than a half-dozen saves, among them a diving catch in the final minutes of the game to halt one of Sutton’s few penetrations of Bromfield’s defense.
Sutton’s fast senior attacker Benjamin Venuti (9) posed the biggest threat, said Madison. But the team also had its eye on Sutton’s towering senior midfielder Ryan O’Rourke (11). “All their offense was going through him, so we knew if we shut him down, or at least figured out how to read him, we’d be fine,” he said.
Senior backfielders Colin Martel and Sam Secor provided Bromfield’s defensive firewall, bolstered by the return of senior co-captain Théo Bradley, who was absent for most of the season after dislocating both shoulders. “Having Théo back was a gift,” said Coach Alex Horne, adding that Bradley’s return to the field was typical of the team’s grit in the face of injuries and illness. He said the team’s off-season strength training and conditioning with Hunter Granville of the Foundry in Harvard had helped players work through injuries.
Bromfield’s Liam Morrison sets up to shoot Bromfield’s third and final goal of the game. (Photo by Kent Boynton)
Some of that toughness was on display when Listzwan was hit in the head by a ball halfway through the first half. “We had to take him off,” said Horne, who feared Listzwan’s nose might be broken. Seven minutes later, however, after being checked by the game medic, Listzwan returned and later scored his second goal of the night. “It just shows his character, his toughness, who he is as a person,” said Horne.
A fifth championship!
After winning four state championships, the team had never faced as much doubt about another win as it did during the 2022 season, Horne said. Typically he tells the team to take each season one at a time. “This year we had to flip the script,” he said. After winning the championship four times, there’s the risk of not fighting to win as hard as a team that hasn’t taken home a trophy. “So we made this year about winning five,” he said. “We called it ‘The drive for five.’ ”
Senior co-captain Alex Myles saw a change in attitude as the district and state playoffs approached. “We all realized that we had to come together for what our purpose was. We talked a lot about why we were playing. We just kept talking about that, and I think that really helped drive us forward.”
The team had plenty of supporters in the stands Saturday night, bundled up against temperatures in the mid-30s. The more than 100 Bromfield supporters included the girls soccer team, soccer alumni, past and present school administrators, parents, fans, and press. Bromfield student Curtis Denapoli came dressed as a Greek Trojan warrior and led fans in chants of “Let’s go, Bromfield” as well as in the final five-second countdown to end the game.
From left: Christian Lancellotti (with cap) and shirtless Cam Avola, Geraghty Vellante, Ryan McNulty, and Ben Carbonell cheer on the team. (Photo by Lisa Aciukewicz)
The victory was a validation of Horne’s four-year tenure as head varsity coach. Since being named head coach, the team has won four consecutive championships. This year’s championship was the 13th in team history. And on Saturday night, the boys were once again escorted through town center to the Bromfield School by units of the fire, police, and ambulance departments, lights flashing and sirens blaring.
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