Brophy 3
Tucson 0
By Michael Moroney ’13
THE ROUNDUP
The Brophy soccer squad gained a 3-0 home victory over the 16th seeded Tucson Badgers in the first round of the Arizona state tournament Jan. 30.
The Broncos entered the playoffs as the No. 1 seed in Arizona after finishing the season with a 12-0 record against Arizona opponents. They had not played the Badgers yet this season.
“They weren’t a bad team and we knew to begin with that we couldn’t take them lightly so we came out fast and put together some good pieces and scored early,” said starting striker Ryan Grotjohn ’13.
David Lane ’13 gave Brophy the early lead with a header off a corner kick from Grotjohn.
“We dominated the game from then on by scoring a couple more,” Grotjohn said.
Lane then assisted a goal by Alex Broglia ’14 for a 2-0 lead heading into halftime.
The Broncos possessed the ball for a majority of the second half before Riggs Lennon ’13 finally iced the game with a goal to make it 3-0.
Lennon failed to convert on his other five shots but the Broncos leading goal scorer booted this one in off a through ball by Grotjohn.
Before their game against Tucson, the Broncos watched as No. 9 Hamilton defeated No. 8 Pinnacle in another first round game at the Brophy Sports Campus. Brophy will now play Hamilton at home in the second round Saturday, Feb. 2.
“We haven’t played Hamilton yet but definitely feel confident,” said Colin Jackson ’13. “As long as we come out ready to play, nobody can beat us.”
Hamilton was the last Arizona team to beat Brophy when the two teams played a double overtime game in last year’s state championship.
