HARTFORD, CT — What appeared to be a pedestrian, ho-hum title for the favorite changed quickly into an extra-time thriller for a game underdog.
And when it was all said and done, 18th-seed Brookfield High School defeated eighth-seed Pomperaug High School on penalty kicks to win the CIAC Class L boys soccer title in Hartford.
Played under the setting sun, then the lights, of Trinity Health Stadium in Hartford, the match saw plucky Brookfield fight back furiously from a 2-0 deficit to even the score 2-2 in the second half, sending the match to extra time and then penalty kicks.
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The championship was won when Brookfield won a marathon, 15-13 penalty kick shootout, giving Brookfield a 3-2 win.
Despite being the 18th seed in the tournament, Brookfield coach Doug Rivard said the plan going in was to win it, even if it took multiple games via PKs.
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“To get five wins like this, it was our objective,” an elated and exhausted Rivard said after the game. “When we went down 2-0, there was no quit.”
Led by coach Joe Mancini, the Pomperaug High School Panthers (Southbury/Middlebury) entered the game as the eighth seed, going 10-2-4 in the regular season.
Meanwhile, Brookfield entered the tourney with a 7-3-6 regular season record.
The game got off to a fast start when Pomperaug senior Dylan Duda scored on a counter-attack off a Brookfield free kick, slotting the ball into the goal to give the Panthers a 1-0 lead.
After some settled play for several minutes, Duda scored his second goal of the game from a distance with less than two minutes left in the half.
The senior co-captain unleashed a screamer just inside the box, past Brookfield goalkeeper Andrew Genovese and it hit the top crossbar.
When it then crossed the goal line, the Panthers were up 2-0 and Brookfield was left depleted.
The goal seemed to be a backbreaker for the Bobcats, as a single-goal deficit going into the half became a two-goal deficit and a much tougher hill to climb in the second half.
But as their coach said, there was no quit in Brookfield.
As the second half started, play was mostly confined to the midfield with the occasional excursion into Brookfield’s half by Pomperaug, which controlled the pace of the game.
With the Panthers seemingly about to put the game to sleep, Brookfield stunned Pomperaug in the 58th minute.
That’s when Brookfield senior Stephen Gunda redirected a long passing kick from Genovese into the net to get the Bobcats on the board, cutting Pomperaug’s lead to 2-1.
With newfound momentum, Brookfield picked up a pep in their step as they furiously charged in search of an equalizer.
Then in the 73rd minute, Brookfield senior Brady Bulakowski powered in a shot into the net to even the score 2-2 after grabbing a loose ball in the box and letting his foot fly.
Bulakowski’s clutch goal, and the improbably first Brookfield goal, turned a ho-hum 2-0 game into a 2-2 instant classic.
The clock wound down and the game went to extra time, which is comprised of two 10-minute halves.
After some up-and-down play, the first OT period ended with the score still deadlocked at 2-2.
Then with seven minutes left in the second overtime, Pomperaug senior Jonathan Huntley was issued a second yellow card and a subsequent red card for a hard challenge, putting the Panthers down a man the rest of the way.
Brookfield tried to take advantage and win a championship before penalty kicks.
That nearly happened when a long Panther shot hit the crossbar, missing a championship-winning goal by inches shortly after the red card.
Both sides running on fumes, the second OT ended with the same 2-2 score, pushing the contest to a dramatic penalty kick shootout after 100 minutes of play.
The tension continued through two rounds of penalties, as both sides were tied 7-7, sending the contest into a third round of PKs, which also ended tied at 11-11.
The fourth round of PKs ended in a Brookfield victory as Bulakowski shot his turn into the net, sealing a 15-13 PK result.
A physically drained Rivard said the PK shootout, which featured 20 kicks taken over four rounds, was something he’d never seen before.
“I was exhausted by the end of that. My heart was sinking,” he said.
Despite the unpredictability of penalties, Rivard said the team was ready.
“We took them every single day for a month, so we were ready to go,” Rivard said.
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