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12/08/2019 11:00 PMThe North Branford girls’ soccer team took an unconventional route to the Class M State Tournament during the 2019 season. After struggling early on, the Thunderbirds went on a second-half run to make states, ultimately clinching their berth with a 3-1 win versus Lyman Hall in their regular-season finale.
While North Branford didn’t qualify for the Shoreline Conference Tournament or go beyond the first round of states, Pat Kozloski, who was in his seventh year as head coach, felt proud of the club for never giving up following a rough start to the season. North Branford finished the year with an overall record of 5-9-3.
“I think I have a common goal every year of improving from August until October or November. I think that we showed we did,” said Kozloski. “We continued to play good soccer and played good soccer throughout the season. We became sharper as a group as the year went on. It was one of our goals to make states, and we did. It took us all 16 games, but we still made states. It’s a massive goal, and we accomplished it.”
Things looked bleak for the Thunderbirds following the first nine games of the year. At that point, North Branford had yet to win a game with its record of 0-7-2. However, North Branford finished the regular season strong by going 5-1-1 down the stretch to sneak into the Class M State Tournament as the No. 27 seed.
“The biggest accomplishment was playing all 16 games tough. Going down 0-7-2, we could’ve just mailed it in and maybe gotten a win here or there, but the girls dug deep and kept asking me, ‘What do we need?’” Kozloski said. “Drawing at Morgan [on Oct. 15] was a big game. We were down 4-1, so to come back and draw 4-4, that point, among others, got us into states. They weren’t willing to just mail it in and call it a day. They kept fighting throughout the year, and that’s a huge accomplishment in its own right.”
Kozloski said he was happy to see the fire from the T-Birds, and he expected nothing less. North Branford has proved a gritty adversary in the Shoreline Conference throughout the past few seasons.
“We just do our thing. We have fun, look at what we need to work on, and we preach playing good soccer,” Kozloski said. “I think in my experience, the fabric of North Branford girls’ soccer is being tough and not giving in. We continue to be stubborn, and that’s the makeup of the girls on the team.”
After going winless through the first half of the year, North Branford’s 4-0 victory against Hale-Ray on Oct. 10 provided the confidence boost that the T-Birds needed. North Branford was in every game, but needed some confidence to finish them off.
“It starts with one,” Kozloski said. “We had a couple of games early on where we were up at halftime or tied at halftime and ended up losing. As we figured out ourselves and what makes us tick and what our strengths are, we were able to get some of those wins. With their backs against the wall, the girls showed they weren’t going to go down quietly.”
Forward Alexie Rosado, midfielder Britny Gildersleeve, and defender Gabby Sarmento served as North Branford’s senior captains this fall. Each member of trio patrolled a different area of the field for the Thunderbirds, so there was also a leadership presence at all ends of the pitch.
“They led throughout the whole year. Led by example and didn’t let down. They led in practice almost like player-coaches where they knew what we were doing, told other players what they needed to do, and took their experiences and passed them on to some of the younger players,” Kozloski said. “I think it is so important they knew what the standard was. They know our expectations and took it upon themselves to demonstrate it to the players every game.”
North Branford saw some defenders miss time due to injuries this year. Kozloski credited Sarmento for bringing stability to the back line.
“Gabby was so instrumental being that rock,” said Kozloski. “It’s very selfless playing that role, but she really held it down back there, which allowed us to do other things.”
Rosado was North Branford’s offensive leader by finishing the season with 11 goals and nine assists. Rosado earned All-Shoreline Conference First Team honors and was also named the Thunderbirds’ Most Valuable Player.
“Alexie relieved the pressure for our backs and relieved pressure for our players as she could take the ball and run with it. She has a unique ability to take players on and make something out of nothing. She allowed other players to grow, because she was being doubled or tripled by the opposition,” Kozloski said. “Alexie had a really positive season, and she allowed [junior] Catie Dow some freedom, along with some other players to grow, because the onus wasn’t on them.”
Gildersleeve was selected to the All-Shoreline Second Team, while Sarmento and Dow both earned Honorable Mention. Sarmento also received North Branford’s Desire and Dedication Award. Junior Karina Jassil was North Branford’s Rookie of the Year, and junior Olivia Ferreira took home the Most Improved Player Award.
Things will be different for North Branford next year and not just because the seniors are graduating. At the end of the recent season, Kozloski resigned as North Branford’s head coach. Kozloski said that he enjoyed coaching the Thunderbirds for the past seven years.
“I’m happy with my experience and time with North Branford,” said Kozloski. “But it’s time to go in another direction for now.”