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10/09/2015 12:00 AMBronagh Lonergan has had an interesting ride in a Guilford soccer career filled with peaks and valleys. Ultimately, it’s her love for the game and the resiliency of a champion that has carried her through.
Bronagh, a senior co-captain and defensive sweeper, has been on the pitch since age 4 and joined CFC Hamden club soccer her sophomore year. That same season with the Indians, Bronagh was a State Tournament reserve for Class L champion Guilford. While holding high expectations that following fall, Bronagh was disappointed when she didn’t make the opening day varsity roster as a junior. However, Bronagh used that as a wake-up call to motivate herself, played her way into the lineup by midseason, and aided the Indians to their second SCC crown.
Now in 2015, Bronagh has led a stingy Indians’ defense that’s allowed only four goals in Guilford’s first seven games for an undefeated mark.
“We graduated 10 seniors from last year, so we were uncertain going in. Our senior class is small [with 7], so we combined with the freshmen our sophomore year to form the JV team. We’ve always worked together, while communicating and being trustworthy,” says Bronagh. “Our communication with the midfielders and forwards is also strong, so we are able to clear the ball and the midfielders do an excellent job of getting the ball up.”
“I was on the bench during states my sophomore year and I felt I had varsity sealed going into junior year. Yet when I didn’t make varsity, it was alarming to me and I evaluated myself and became a better player as I wasn’t playing the way I should’ve been,” Bronagh says. “I was put into varsity around the fourth or fifth game, which was great because I thought I lost the experience of being on the team, but got it back. I was surprised about being named captain, yet this is a fun team to lead and we are all very close together.”
Bronagh has also had to deal with living with Crohn’s disease, a disorder which causes inflammation of the lining of one’s digestive tract and can lead to things such as abdominal pain, fatigue, and weight loss. However, Bronagh has found a way to manage that and it certainly doesn’t seem to be taking away from any of her potential athletic achievements.
“[Crohn’s] hasn’t been a huge inconvenience for me. It makes you more conscious of how you eat because, if you don’t eat well, it takes a lot of energy away from you,” she says. “It hasn’t been too bad and it actually gives you big responsibility with taking care of yourself.”
Within her roller coaster high school soccer journey, Bronagh has learned a great deal about herself and grown through her travels—leading all the way up to an unexpected position at the captain’s helm.
Indians’ Head Coach Scott McMahon has known Bronagh for six years through both the classroom and the field and says that her strong characteristics have never wavered.
“She has led as a captain with inspired leadership and as a player who gets better every game. In one year, she has grown from a slightly tentative JV/varsity player to the calm, steady, and tough heart of our defense,” said McMahon. “I first got to know her when I was her 6th-grade math teacher. Hardworking, noisy, and really funny were some of her trademarks. I see toughness in her now and feel confident that she wants to do everything possible to have another championship season.”
Guilford has seen many athletes come and go each year, although Bronagh explains that she and the Indians have held down the same mentality and matured through each game.
“It’s been an amazing experience. Even if you aren’t on the field, you know you are a part of the team. It’s been a different group of girls each year, yet we’ve grown stronger each year and I couldn’t imagine not playing soccer,” says Bronagh. “I remember my first game freshman year. We lost to Hand 7-1, but we came back to beat them at the end of the year. The win was one of my strongest memories because it showed how far we had come.”
Shifting her focus to the present and the Indians’ quest for a conference three-peat, Bronagh declares that Guilford will keep an even keel and take something away from each contest.
“We have challenging games coming up, but we never get caught up in the winning streaks and always evaluate ourselves,” says Bronagh, who thanks her family, former Guilford coach Cliff Yerkes, along with current coaches Fred Franzoni and McMahon. “We came into a game with Mercy [a 1-0 win on Sept. 28] because we knew they had a good record, yet we just played how we know how to. Our coaches always tell us we can do whatever we set our minds to.”