WESTFIELD — Peter Bronke managed to keep the Frontier Regional boys soccer team close with several miraculous saves in the state Division 3 semifinals against Nipmuc Wednesday night.
But without any scoring, the Red Hawks’ season came to end with a 1-0 loss to the Warriors at Alumni Field on the campus of Westfield State.
“I feel like we never found our groove offensively,” Frontier coach Dale Totman said. “We’ve been a work in progress on offense. We’ve counterattacked a lot and they did a great job of neutralizing that. We didn’t click well enough on offense.”
The Red Hawks played stout defensively in front of Bronke (nine saves). But offensively against Nipmuc, the attempts at the goal just weren’t there.
Frontier (13-4-4) had two good opportunities to score in the first half. Ian Newman had a shot that glanced off the finger tips of Nipmuc goalie Lucas Vanslette and over the crossbar.
Newman later set up Ethan LaFleur on a breakaway attempt. With the pass slowing down, LaFluer had to slow his momentum toward the goal. This allowed the Nipmuc defenders to swarm LaFleur and it led to a change in possession before a shot attempt.
The second half didn’t produce any quality opportunities for Frontier. Only Bronke’s play in net kept them close.
“Peter has been great all year,” Totman said. “In the second half they had clear chances to put the game away and Peter kept us in it until the end. That was incredible.”
The Red Hawks did have a direct kick near the 18-yard line with under two minutes left by Zach Hamilton, but it was blocked by Nipmuc’s wall.
“Zach is a great free-kick taker,” Totman said. “I thought we were going to score. If it doesn’t hit the wall maybe it goes in.”
Nipmuc (18-4-1) scored with just under 20 minutes left in the first half. Jonas Walter settled a ball among defenders around the 18-yard line and launched a shot that zipped past Bronke.
“Nothing he could do about that,” Totman said. “That was an amazing goal.”
Walter had a point-blank shot in the second half that Bronke slapped away to keep the Red Hawks within a goal.
Alex Gheorghita had a solid game on the back end of Frontier’s defense, blocking shots and thwarting penetration by the Warriors, who will play Wayland in the state final.
Most of the play came in Frontier’s end, as the Warriors outshot Frontier 14-4.
It was the final game for seniors Keaton Warren, Sam Schecterle, Shaurav Ghale, Bronke and Newman.
