After the fall of 2020’s limiting restrictions and COVID-related challenges, varsity athletes tackled this fall season with renewed vigor and enthusiasm. In the words of athletic director, David Boisvert, “Our fall teams historically do very well, and they have this year too.” He observed that “this might be the highest participation that we’ve had in the last couple years.” 

Indeed, the lack of restrictions has elevated the spirits of players who now feel as if things are returning back to normal. Sophomore field hockey player, Alexandra Arellano Montenegro mentions how “liberating [it is to] not wear masks when playing.” Junior soccer player, Théodore Bradley, similarly recalls how “it was extremely difficult to breathe, and to see the ball at your feet.” Players across all teams expressed satisfaction with the COVID mandates, and all felt that the pandemic’s effect on the season was minimal, with the only restriction requiring masks on the buses. 

Boys Soccer

The boys varsity soccer team had an incredible season this year with a record of 19-2-1, their only losses being against Division 1 teams. The team won the titles of division 5 league and state champions. One of the senior captains, Ryan McNulty, recalled, “our team has really been solid this year, and has fought through a lot of adversity.” McNulty explained how the adversity in question stemmed from the pressure of performing well after the lack of state tournaments last year. Junior player Théodore Bradley reiterated this point, saying, “Since last season had been majorly affected by the pandemic, most teams expect Bromfield’s team this year to be nowhere near as skilled as the Bromfield team that had won the state championship three years in a row.” Despite this external influence, McNulty said the boys soccer team “dealt with the pressure pretty well” and played successfully, particularly in the state championship against Douglas, where they won 1-0 in overtime. 

Girls Soccer

Under the coaching of Katie Greene, the girls soccer team also had a strong season with a record of 13-4-3, winning the title of Central Mass runner-ups. Sophomores Allison Corrieri and Kennedy Dylewicz said that this season, “our team did really well.” This season was different from previous ones in the sense that there were eleven seniors on the team. Corrieri felt this means there are “a lot of leaders on the team helping newer players.” This dynamic has not always been so clean, however, and Corrieri recalls there being a lot of adversity at the beginning of the season. Dylewicz recalled how they “definitely dodged at each other’s throats a little bit earlier in the season, but now we’re more of a team.” One of their greatest achievements has been “facing that adversity and coming together as a team.” 

Girls Cross Country

Matt Lynde, the coach of the girls cross country team, described having “a very successful season,” with a Midland-Wachusett League Division C championship record of 5-0: their 3rd undefeated season in a row. Coming out of the COVID season, Lynde described it as “so much nicer” and that they’ve been able to “have a regular schedule.” This included invitationals—where many schools congregate for a long day of races—and tournaments. Another big difference has been the lack of seniors on the team, with junior Molly Squire being both the oldest and only junior on the team. Lynde described the lack of senior leadership as not necessarily a good or bad thing. He explained how the younger players have “had to pick up those responsibilities” and that they’ve “never really had a season like this without having that clear leadership from our senior class.” Discipline and drive, however, have not been a problem. Lynde articulated how the runners “are incredibly committed” and “train really hard [with] a lot of character and integrity.” 

Boys Cross Country

The boys cross country team also had a good season this year, winning the title of Mid-Wachusett League Division C champions and ending with a record of 3-2-0. Team captain Julian Iverson feels proud of how the team did and said, “We have a lot of strong runners and hard workers.” Iverson’s only concern about the season is the team’s competitiveness and certain players’ refusal to manage their pacing on “easy days.” As Iverson recalls, “the team culture was very different in the earlier years.” This sense of change and adaptation is reflected in the number of new runners: “four of our top seven runners are middle schoolers, and five seniors will be graduating,” Iverson answered. That being said, the team performed very well, particularly during the league race at Hollis Hills. Iverson describes this course as “nobody’s favorite” due to the many hills. On top of this, the runners ran in less than ideal conditions. Iverson recounts how “the day of our race was cold, rainy, and incredibly muddy.” All of these factors made for a very difficult race, and an even more gratifying victory. 

Girls Field Hockey

The girls field hockey team ended the season with a record of 3-9-3. Coach Sue Silver had “high expectations,” but they did not do as well as she’d hoped record-wise. That being said, the challenge of sharing players with the JV team changed her perspective to the point that she remarked, “Yeah, I thought we did good.” She recalled that the team’s greatest achievement this year must be beating Tyngsboro 1-0. Sophomores Sanjana Shukla and Sophia Rypinski expressed feeling torn about their place on the team, and feel “it’s tiring playing for both teams, but we enjoy being a part of them.” 

Crew

This fall season, the crew team attended several regattas, including the Textile River Regatta, the Head of the Fish Regatta, and the NE Regional Championships. Sophomore Darren Quek recounted the last crew season saying, “Our team as a whole did okay this year.” He recalled that the boat he was in had “quite a few issues, but we fixed the vast majority of them by the end of it.” The main challenge this fall was “the acclimation of our boats to races. Rowing on our pond and rowing at races are two completely different things; there are just so many more things that can go wrong during races that we are not able to account for doing practices.” Quek explained how COVID affected them last year, in the way the novice and eighth-grade teams had to alternate rowing days with the varsity team, meaning that there were many more land days than regular.

Golf

Additionally, golf, coached by Rod van Guilder, ended with a record of 4-8-0. Sophomore, Evan Peikos was the league tournament individual champion. Peikos and senior golfer Adrian Curtis were also state finalists. “With such a young team I think we got off to a slow start, we began to pick up speed towards the end and finished second at the league tournament which makes me excited for next year,” remarked Piekos. Personally, Piekos finds fall sports “a little harder when trying to get back into the school year at the same time” and finds it a “good distraction to compete on the course with teammates and other schools.”