On Nov. 14, the Bronxville girls soccer team put the finishing touches on a brilliant season, topping Lewiston-Porter 2-0 in the Class B state championship game. For the Broncos, the victory was not only the latest feather in the cap for a program that has enjoyed tremendous success over the last decade, but also a reminder that the squad’s young talent means the club could be a force for the foreseeable future.
Sunday’s championship showdown proved to be a tale of two halves, as the Broncos and Lancers battled evenly for the first 40 minutes and headed to halftime in a 0-0 deadlock.
But Bronxville woke up in the second half, as sophomore Maddy Stupart found Cece Jablonsky for the game’s first tally before adding an insurance goal of her own with just under eight minutes remaining. Defensively, the Broncos continued their stellar play, allowing just four shots on goal—all of which were stopped by Milly Koenig.
“I think coming out there in the first half, we just couldn’t get in sync,” said head coach Don Cupertino. “But we made some adjustments, moved some people around, and most importantly, I think we started to have fun after halftime.”
Sunday’s win was the latest—and biggest—win in a year already full of victories for the Broncos. At 19-1-1, Bronxville has seemingly been on a path to a state championship all year, but their play has peaked at the right time, as the club steamrolled through the state playoffs, outscoring its opponents 7-0 in three games.
“I knew coming into the year that we had tremendous potential, but it was a matter of figuring out the pieces,” Cupertino said. “But I don’t think we started to gel until that [Sept. 30] loss to Irvington; it was our best game of the year and after that, I think we really turned the corner.”
Cupertino admits that his tinkering with the lineups early in the season may have helped the Broncos last weekend as the team was forced to play without one of its top defenders who missed the semifinal and championship games due to a bout of mononucleosis.
“All year we didn’t have a fixed lineup and the kids did the best they could,” said Cupertino. “And Lewiston scored 110 goals during the year so they really did a nice job on them.”
The Broncos state title is their third since 2011, and came in a year that also saw Cupertino notch his milestone 500th victory. But even though the team will be graduating a talented senior class, which includes Koenig, Alice Vranka, Lily Jebejian and Kiki Tormey, the head coach is confident that the team’s younger players, like Stupart, can carry the program forward.
“This was a very special year for me and we are going to be losing a great class, a lot of talented players,” he said. “So it’s going to be up to the kids who are still here; they can either drop their heads or they can come back next year and continue to work hard.”
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