Pomperaug soccer l-r Scarlett Broderick, Hannah Broderick, Maddy Sumple, Gina Perrella
BY ROGER CLEAVELAND
Republican-American
SOUTHBURY – It’s easy to look at the success of the undefeated Pomperaug girls soccer team and credit the resurgence to the outstanding season senior forward Sophia Kenny is having.
While she has clearly played a major role for the Panthers with her goal-scoring ability, a team effort on defense has arguably been even more important. Pomperaug has given up only five goals all season and posted six shutouts in its last seven games.
It starts with senior center backs Scarlet Broderick and Lindsey McCormack who have played together at the jayvee and varsity levels since they were freshmen.
“Our defense is outstanding. It is absolutely insane,” said senior center mid Hannah Broderick, Scarlet’s twin. “Scarlet’s left foot is insane. She can clear the ball and make great tackles. Lindsey is doing an awesome job specifically marking players and then moving forward and helping out Maddy (Sumple) and I in the center mid.”
Flanking the experienced center backs is a pair of sophomores who have really impressed their teammates and the coaches.
“Our outside back Emily Belval is new this year, but she has done outstanding,” Hannah Broderick said. “We played a game against Masuk which had a national-caliber forward, and Emily shut her down. And Liv Paulisin outside is just so aggressive and does so well. They are getting used to playing together, and no one can stop them. They are absolutely outstanding.”
Coach Jim Ferro said Scarlet Broderick is a great overall player and leader on the back end, McCormack is great at playing physical and strong on the ball to break up plays, and both Paulisin and Belval have great speed to cover a lot of ground and make plays.
“Then we also have two exceptional sophomore goalkeepers in Elyssa Kipperman and Caitlin Murphy, who I have been rotating in and splitting games with,” Ferro said. “So they are both getting a ton of time. Most people think that is pretty unorthodox, but it has been working for us. If I am going to use both keepers, I want to make sure they get the time they deserve.”
Of course, a defense is only as good as the team’s offense allows it to be. Pomperaug has to be able to attack opposing teams so there isn’t constant pressure on the Panthers’ defense. Ferro said that the team’s possession offense and great depth allow them to stay fresh and maintain ball control to perfectly complement the defense.
Pomperaug girls soccer coach Jim Ferro
Ferro said that as great as Kenny has been, the team is getting goals not only from forwards and center mids but from their outside midfielders, as well.
“From our center mid position, our two captains, Hannah Broderick and Maddy Sumple, are doing a tremendous job building and creating a lot of opportunities in the middle. Up top in those tight game-winning situations, Jamie Collimore pulled out two goals out for us in the Bethel game that brought us from a 1-0 deficit to a win. She was the goal-scorer in the 1-0 win over Newtown. Then I’ve got support coming in from Annie Carnes who has tremendous speed and creates a lot of problems for opposing backfields. And then Olivia Farina right now is our fourth forward who as a sophomore is getting better and better every day.”
Hannah Broderick said that since making a run to the semifinals of last year’s Class L tournament. The Panthers have gained a ton of confidence that’s allowed them to win their first 10 games this season.
“We realized, ‘Wow, we really are an amazing team when we play together and all play our best,’” Hannah Broderick said. “That is where we got our confidence from was just knowing what type of team we can be. Now it is definitely the willpower of the team and our want to win. We really have really high goals for this year. All of us want to go deep into states, because of our success last year. We were kind of the underdog last year, and this year we are kind of the team to beat.”