Lewis Mills boys survive penalty kicks to advance in Class M

By STEVE BARLOW
Special to The Collinsville Press

BURLINGTON, Nov.  9, 2026  – You couldn’t have blamed them if a sense of dread came over the Lewis Mills boys soccer team when Monday’s Class M second-round game against Wolcott went to a penalty-kick shootout. Déjà vu, good and bad, can be a powerful emotion.

Two years ago, Mills lost to Stonington in the state tournament in a shootout. Last year, it fell to Plainville in a shootout that consumed three rounds of penalty kicks. This time?

Well, the third time proved to be a charm as Mills keeper Will Bevivino saved the first three Wolcott attempts to help the Spartans secure a 2-1 (3-1 PK) victory at Nassahegan Field.

“If your keeper can make one save, you’re usually in good shape,” Mills coach Ben Kulas said. “(Bevivino) made three of them in a row. That’s incredible. I’ve never seen that before.”

And what’s it like standing excitedly between the posts mano-a-mano? Perhaps a little nerve-wracking?

“It’s fun,” Bevivino answered. “It gets the adrenaline going when you save one.”

Bevivino’s nets were finally breached on Wolcott’s fourth kick, but Mills’ Dom Wroblewski then drilled his shot into the lower right corner of the goal for an insurmountable 3-1 advantage, triggering a charge onto the field by a throng of happy home fans.

The eighth-seeded Spartans (14-4-1) will travel to top-seeded Waterford on Thursday for a quarterfinal match. No. 9 Wolcott finished the season 14-3-2.

The dramatic ending in the shootout followed a nearly as dramatic ending in regulation. Mills took a 1-0 lead when a long throw-in by Wroblewski brushed a Wolcott defender and went in for an own goal with 26:16 left in the second half.

The Wolcott coaches complained to no avail that the ball hadn’t touched anyone, but 25 minutes later it was Mills squawking about a controversial goal.

The Spartans were only a little over a minute from victory when Wolcott’s Tyson Brenes went down in the box and a foul was called, much to Mills’ disbelief. Brenes, who had missed a penalty kick earlier in the second half, booted the ball into the lower right corner to tie the score at 1-1.

Brenes also took the first PK for Wolcott in the shootout, but Bevivino dove to his right to stop it. On Wolcott’s next two shots, he dove to his left for saves, stretching to deflect the ball an inch or two wide on the third attempt.

“Once I pick my side, that’s just where I go,” Bevivino explained. “Sometimes, you can see it in their eyes. If they look one way multiple times, that’s where they’re going, but it’s a guessing game.”

After the Spartans’ Jacob Verbeek scored on the first kick, Wolcott keeper Hunter Dill saved the second and third Mills shots. Daniel Swider scored on the Spartans’ fourth attempt for a 2-0 edge. Thomas Dias scored for Wolcott, which meant Wroblewski could win it with Mills’ fifth and final kick.

In last year’s three-round shootout with Plainville, Wroblewski, who crosses himself before he shoots, made both of his attempts. This time, his shot was true again.

“I pray before I kick to give all my thanks to God,” he said. “(Where to aim) kind of comes to me when the whistle blows. I know where I’m going to shoot it. Their goalie is pretty tall (6-foot-4). It’s hard for tall people to get down. The bottom right is always a good spot to shoot.”

Bevivino made nine saves in the game, while Dill had 11. The Spartans, who won the Central Connecticut Conference Central Division, had the lion’s share of scoring chances in the game and an edge in possession time, especially in the two overtimes.

“I give our guys credit. They could’ve crumbled,” Kulas said. “You give up a PK, a questionable one in my opinion, but you give up a PK with (1:08) left. They could’ve crumbled, but they kept playing and kept getting opportunities in overtime. They kept their cool. Mental toughness, that’s what we want to see and that’s what they showed.”

Lewis Mills 2, Wolcott 1, penalty kicks
At Burlington
Lewis Mills (14-4-1)    0  1  0  0 — 1
Wolcott (14-2-2)          0  1  0  0 — 1
Goals: LM: Luca Rubbo; W: Tyson Brenes (pk); Assists: Dominik Wroblewski (LM); Saves: LM: Williams Bevivino 7; W: Hunter Dill 10; Shootout: Penalty kicks:  Dom Wroblewski (LM), Jacob Verbeek (LM), Daniel Swider (LM), Thomas Dias (W)