This Veterans Day, Brookline fans filed into Manning Stadium in Lynn, Massachusetts, hoping their team would get a win and move one step closer to a state championship.
After beating Medford 2-0 and Peabody 1-0, the Brookline Warriors had moved on to the third round of the state tournament to face the Acton-Boxborough Colonials in what was set up to be a thriller. One more win and the Warriors would reach the Division I North finals for the first time since 2010.
The game kicked off a little before sundown and both teams came out ready to play. The Colonials’ defense was tenacious to start, forcing Brookline to turn the ball over a number of times.
Brookline also came out with a lot of energy. Led by senior captain Toma-Beit Arie and junior Elijah Elmore, the offense continuously pushed the ball up the field off Acton-Boxborough’s early turnovers and got a few transition opportunities as a result. However, they never seriously threatened to score in the first half.
The Colonials were able to get some transition opportunities as well, but their shots kept sailing astray or toward Brookline’s goalkeeper, junior Edmund Geschickter, who had four saves. The game was scoreless at halftime.
As the second half of the game began, senior Ben Gerber was able to come back out onto the field after suffering a minor injury in the first half.
Minutes into the second half, a fight broke out when Beit-Arie and the Colonials’ junior Christian Oddsund collided and fell to the ground. As Beit-Arie stood up, Oddsund grabbed him by the jersey; Beit-Arie retaliated, shoving Oddsund to the ground. Players, coaches and referees had to break up the fight, and the skirmish resulted in yellow cards for both players.
The Warriors’ defense, led by senior captain Theo Yannekis, seniors Seth Coven and Keshav Prabhu-Schlosser and sophomore Oliver Priebe, was stout, not letting the Colonials get any clean shots on goal for 74 minutes. However, in the 74th minute, the Colonials were finally able to break open the lid on the scoreless game.
The Colonials were awarded a corner after Geschickter made an acrobatic save, tipping the ball just over the crossbar. Colonials’ junior Jake Urso drove the ball into the box, where his teammate sophomore Ben Ludwick flicked the ball to the back post. The ball fell into the side-netting, clinching the 1-0 win in the semifinals.
When the game ended, the Colonials rushed onto the field in joy and excitement. Before departing, the Brookline faithful got one last look at their team. For the 12 seniors who have played together for nearly 10 years, it had been their last time stepping onto the field as one unit. The fans gave a huge ovation to let their team know they appreciated the hard work they put in over the course of three months. The season was over.
Matt Deangelo can be contacted at [email protected]
