10W TOWN CRIER - WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 5, 2011 HOME NEWS HERE.COM JOE W1N«MA!¥ have landed at; [ Kendra
^BmnMMrm <strong>Wilmington</strong> HftillMbllltiirii EMM E-MAIL: JAMIE@Y0URT0WNCRIER.COM f-^-isjf^^-ia-r.-^ ^ !Tie^ 5? ■i'^.-:--;.-:Si5 WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 5, 2011 2010 <strong>Wilmington</strong> Town Criefs Female Athlete of the Year: Briaime Bozzella ■I Rv .TAMTF PQTE Sports Editor Four years ago Briaime Bozzella was in the middle of her final basketball season at <strong>Wilmington</strong> High School. She was the point guard on the 2007 team that advanced to the program's first ever Division 3 North sectional final, and when the game was over and the Wildcats lost by a basket to league rival Pentucket Regional on the parquet floor of Lowell's "ftongas Arena, there was Bozzella and the rest of her teammates broken into pieces. That loss came just three months after she was named the Town Crier's Female Athlete of the Year for the 2006 calendar year That was when she wrapped up a sensational four-year career as one of the top all-time goal scorers of the girls' soccer team, as well as her four years with the basketball team and three seasons of distance running as a member of the outdoor track-andfield team. Little did Bozzella know at the time of the basketball team's loss, that she would make a return to the City of Lowell and continue her outhanding academic and athfetic career For the past four years Bozzella has been a member of the University of Massachusetts at Lowell women's soccer team, and her 2010 season is the reason why she has been chosen as the Town Crier's Female Athlete of the Year for the second time in five years. Her impact with the soccer program and the school as a student-athlete, as well as her impact with children and current high school athletes here in <strong>Wilmington</strong>, is second to none. Bozzella finished off a 2010 soccer season leading UML in scoring with seven goals and four assists, vvWle she was tied for fifth m the entire , Northeast-10 Conference in game winning goals with four. In addition, she was named a NE-10 Second Tteam All- Conference selection, and was also the league's top vote-getter in being named to the Northeast Women's Intercollegiate Soccer Association's Division 2 All- Star team, which was played on December 4th and saw Boz score a goal in the 2-1 victory. The Riverhawks struggled a bit at times this season, fin- ishing with an overall record of 8-8-2 which includes the team's first roimd tournament loss to Merrimack. Yet despite the team's inconsistencies, Boz, one of the team's captains, wasn't one of them. She scored 29 percent of the team's 24 goals, and leaves the program as its fourth all-time leading scorer, ranking fourth all-time in goals and second all-time in assists. And she did all of that with an incredible 3.92 GPA studying Exercise Physiology. While all of that is very impressive, Boz has never forgotten where she comes from. During the past three years, she is at the <strong>Wilmington</strong> High School basketball games either helping on the scoring tables for the girls games, or in the bleachers with her parents watching her brother Jesse during the boys games. Then during the summer months, she runs a conditioning program for the WHS Girls Soccer team, which has been a tremendous asset to head coach Sue Hendee. While all of her accomplishments, feats, game winning goals and leadership qualities are certainly off the charts, Brianne Bozzella as a person is as good as they come - finding someone as good natured, as genuine and thoughtful as Boz is a hard thing to do. "Brianne has a great attitude," said UML coach Elbe Monteiro. "She is as pleasant and as reliable as th^ come. She served as team captain and could always be counted on to represent the women's soccer program in any capacity. She is a leader and will be missed greatly next season." Familiar Territory During her first two seasons as a member of the WHS Basketball team, Bozzella at times had a hard time controUing her turnovers. She had such incredible speed, that sometimes it hurt her game. But in her final two years, she really worked at it and became an incredible force on the parquet floors. Being able to shape herself mto such a good hoop player certainly didn't happen over night. Just like she didn't become one of the UML's best soccer players during a week of tryouts. "My freshman year definitely wasn't ideal," said Bozzella, who went from starting one game as a freshman to becoming a threeyear starter "I didn't come into pre-season in as good of shape as I should have, and I ended up with an injury that had me out for three weeks. Needless to say, it was a wake-up call for me to get my act together for the next three seasons." That wake up call came several times - not only by Boz herself but from Monteiro. "Brianne realized very quickly that she was going to need to put in a lot of work to accomplish what she set out to do in college," he said. "She wanted to be a major contributor on and off the field. To her credit, she showed the motivation, the determination, and mental strength to reach all of her goals. She was among the fittest on the team and led the team in scoring this past season. These qualities have made Brianne the successful student-athlete she turned out to be. While she consistently earned the highest GPA on our team, she made it very difficult to leave her off the field during game days." The work Bozzella put in after her freshman season to become the forward/midfielder who ended her career with 15 goals and 12 assists, was incredible. She's a gym rat, she's a soccer field junky and she's a sports nut in general. But she's also just one member of a team. "Once I made nny fitness a priority, it made everything else come a lot easier and I yfas able to develop the technical side of my game every year," she said. "Sure, I think I improved over my four years at UML, but winning games and scoring goals is not what I remember most about ny career. The teammates I had and friendships I've made are definitely the most memorable part of my career. "Over the years, a lot of the girls that have been on the team have become my closest fiiends. Having a team that bonded so well allowed us to win big games and set milestone records like the NCAA Division n record for consecutive shutout minutes (during the 2009 season). Sure, we may have not have been the No. 1 team in the country, but I couldn't have asked for a more enjoyable collegiate soccer experience." For the second time, <strong>Wilmington</strong>'s Brianne Bozzella has been named the Tbwn Crier's Female Athlete of the Year after an excellent season on the UMass Lowell women's soccer team. (courtesy photos/UML). The Adjustments In high school, Bozzella was one of the team's top go-toplayers in both soccer and basketball. She was one of the leaders, the one who scored the goals or the baskets and the one who helped lead the team to big victories. But once she made the leap to the college level, she was the small fish in the big pond, and the adjustment going from Division 3 high school to Division 2 coUegiate soccer in one of the toughest leagues in the country, was certainly eye-opening. "The physical aspect and level of skill were a huge step up from high school sports," she said. "Everybody (in college) was good. Being fast was no longer going to get you by. I knew I wasn't and never would be the most technically sound player, so for me that meant doing everything I could to be one of the most physically fit players. Otherwise, I wouldn't play, so I made training for soccer a year-round commitment. "Unlike high school, girls were being recruited left and right to play for our team and make us better The conqietition was always there, so taking time off wasn't an option. If I wanted to continue to see playing time, I had to inprove my game and my fitness every year. It was a tough adjustment at first, but it quickly became a lifestyle because I was going up against these girls everyday at practice. We knew that if we wanted to in^rove as a team, we had to constantly be on each other's backs at practice forcing the best out of one another It wasn't always easy, or pretty for that matter, but it was an adjustment we aU committed to make to succeed at that level of soccer" Bozzella was quick to point out that the push to become such an elite player is a credit to her teammates and her coaches. "I feel very fortunate to have had the opportunity to play Division 2 soccer and be part of a very successful team," she said. "I couldn't imagine having gone through college and not being a member of that team. "I (also) have to credit n^^ confidence to most of the coaches I've had along the way. At one point or another. they aU looked to me to be a leader on the team. The confidence they had really helped me to realize the importance of my role on the team. They were reassuring of my ability on the field/court which allowed me to continually develop as a player "Especially in the last four years, EUe has helped push me to my full potential as a soccer player He was constantly on me about things I needed to do to improve, which proved to be a great source of motivation for me. I couldn't have asked for better guidance from Coach Hendee, (WHS Girls Basketball) Coach (Jay) Keane and Coach Monteiro." The Final Season The 2009 season was one to remember for the UML River Hawks. The team finished 12- 5-4 and also broke a National record by going 12 games without being scored vipon. Bozzella was a key part to the team's offense netting six goals, but after that season ended, so many talented players from that team graduated including <strong>Wilmington</strong>'s Kat Strazzere, who was named the NE-10 Co-Player of the Year. So the 2010 season brought a lot of challenges as UML was much younger, and obviously less talented. "This season wasn't our greatest, but I think it's safe to say we made the best of it," she said. "We missed a bid to the NCAA tournament, but did stiH qualify for the NE-10 Conference tournament. Though this team has come to a point w^ere the NE-10 playoffs should be an automatic, it was an acconqjlishment for us this year having such a young team and graduating so many key players from last year's squad. We lost a few games off the bat that we really shouldn't have, but we got our act together midway through the season and turned things around." Indeed the team, which included a dramatic 1-0 win over Assunption in the final regular season game w*ich pushed UML into the NE-10 playoffs. "We ended up losing the next game to Merrimack in the first round of the NE-10 playoffs," she said. "Even worse, it was in a (penalty kick) shootout. Go figure, that's exactly how we lost to them last year in the NCAA tournament. Of course being our rival, nobody likes to lose to Merrimack, especially in PKs, because that's not even soccer But it is what it is. Even still, I won't look back and remember how it felt losing to them, but I'll look back and remember how much fim we had attaining the accomplishments that we did reach this season." That penalty kick overtime loss to Merrimack ended a brilliant career for Bozzella. Since the program's inception in 1995, only three other players have put together better offensive numbers than Boz - Jackie MacLean (37-5-79), Tricia Auld (14-17-45) and Meaghan Leary (21-2-44). "Surprised (to rank fourth aU-time in scoring) I guess you could say that," she answered. "I can't say that I came to UML freshman year thinking that I was capable of doing that. It feels really good to look back and see those accomplishments, but at the same time their just individual stats. Sure, I see them as proof that hard work pays off, but that's probably not what I'm going to remember five years from now when I look back on my career at UML. "What I will remember was how great it felt scoring two goals against Franklin Pierce to open up nQ' junior year and how awesome it was to celebrate that with my team. And by that time, someone will have probably topped my stats anyways." Quite an influence On her UML biography, Bozzella lists Muhammed Ali, Michael Jordan and Mia Hamm as her three biggest sports heroes. Certainly Hamm and the rest of the U.S. National Women's Soccer team did wonders for the youth in this country, but on the much smaller scale here in <strong>Wilmington</strong>, Bozzella and many other girls like her pals Ashley Vitale, Taryn Martiniello, Strazzere and Lani Cabral-Pini have done the same "I think it's awesome that we are looked upon as role models for younger kids," she said. "For me it means I get to show other girls what they are capable of accomplishing if they put their mind to it. It BOZZELLA PG SP2W ^^^H
Change language