On Nov. 22, the Bronxville boys soccer team made good on their vow to defend the Class B title, downing Pleasantville 3-0 in the Southern Westchester Small School championship game. For the Broncos, Saturday’s win capped off a dominant fall campaign and also provided closure to a talented group of seniors who have anchored the program for the last several years.
Ellis Goodson got the ball rolling for Bronxville in a hotly contested first half, converting on a nifty cross by Henry Sheehan to give the Broncos a 1-0 lead in the 19th minute. After staving off a few early runs by the Panthers, The Broncos were able to create some separation in the second half, however, as Will Redman scored shortly after play resumed and added an insurance goal with just over 11 minutes left in regulation.
According to Redman, it was important to have a cushion against a No. 3-seeded Panther team gunning for a championship game upset.
“We were confident from the very beginning of this game,” said Redman, a sophomore. “But I think that second goal, that definitely helped us as we settled in.”
Senior goalkeeper JP Swenson, who made 7 stops on the day to keep a clean sheet, explained that the opportunity to finish the season at Bronxville’s Chambers Field was particularly important for the team’s 11 seniors.
“We’ve been saying all year that you have to protect homefield at all costs and it just feels so amazing that we got to start and end our season right here,” he said. “We knew Pleasantville was a tough team, but we just played our game and finished around the net to get the win.”
Bronxville played 13 games this season, losing just once in a season finale showdown against Class AA contender New Rochelle. But beyond the wins and losses, Swenson said the simple act of finishing the schedule while dealing with the looming threat of coronavirus was something of a badge of honor for the Broncos.
“We made a promise to the seniors who graduated last year that we were going to make it back, but this was a year where we didn’t know if we were going to have a season at all, so to come out, get all 13 games in, and win the championship, that’s something special,” he said. “There were a lot of programs and schools that had to shut down, so we were lucky, and this is an awesome feeling.”
