Massachusetts Adult Soccer

3/5/2022: This year's Cup story starts even before the teams took to the pitch!  Two weeks prior to the scheduled kickoff of this year's tournament, we were hit with a large snowstorm that dropped over a foot of snow and ice to most of the state.  In some areas of the country, yes... games would get canceled and the Cup postponed... But not here in Massachusetts!!

The Broadway Gunners, in particular Marty Galvin, Ben Shuvela, and Ben's wife (a huge Gunner's fan) took to the turf with shovels and spent the afternoon into the night shoveling off the field, this just 12 hours before the game. They got close to 90% of the field clear but were 100% dedicated to getting the game in. The next morning, they called upon the rest of the Gunners to bring shovels with them for a uniquely New England pregame warmup!

Sure enough, by game time, the referees were satisfied with the efforts of the home team and declared the field playable!

"Not all heroes wear Capes" an anonymous Gunners player was quoted. 

From the kickoff, it was obvious that these two highly skilled teams were going to be a good matchup.  Both teams possessed the ball well moving well through the mid third of the pitch.  In the first half, both teams had scoring opportunities, but both goalies and the defensive lines held strong. 

The Gunners had the most promising scoring opportunity but was thwarted by the incredible efforts of an outside United Africa defender. The Gunners winger beat the United Africa goalie outside the 18 yard box and let an accurate well stuck ball go straight towards the back of the net.  Inches from the goal line, sprinting at full strength, United Africa managed to just tap the ball wide of the net and halted the early celebration of the Gunners!

The game remained tied at half. After offsetting sendoffs, the game would be played out with both teams short a man.  United Africa was first to score in the 60th minute with this the first goal of the game.

However, Gunners would score one of their own within the next 10 minutes of the match as seen here Gunner's Equalizer and then Gunner's pulled ahead with this beautiful chip shot just over the goalie: Gunners' Go Ahead Goal.

In the eighty-second minute, United Africa's the "Machine" scored the tying goal and even with unrelenting United Africa pressure, this match headed for PKs.

It took seven rounds of PKs to push Broadway Gunners into the quarterfinals.

A tip of our hat to the United Africa team for leaving it all on the field and for a hard-fought game.  We look forward to seeing you all out on the pitch again soon!

Broadway Gunners will advance to the quarterfinal round where they will face the winner of FC Omens vs Fall River FC. This game will be played 3/13 at Madison Park HS.