Simpson In Charge at Brunswick School Soccer

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Brunswick Soccer’s Ben Powers during a game last season on Cosby Field. (photo courtesy of the Brunswick School athletic department)

By Paul Silverfarb
Sentinel Editor

Although he’s coached innumerable soccer matches in Greenwich, Danny Simpson is still a little nervous.

A lot has changed for Simpson during the offseason. While he will still be on the sideline coaching in town, it will be with a different squad: Simpson will be the new person in charge for the Brunswick School soccer program.

“My first impression when I walked into the school, looked at the facilities and the high standards they set for academics, and that transfers over to the athletics, I was very impressed,” said Simpson. “I knew I had to come out with my A-game and so far the boys have been very responsive. Tryouts went really well and we have some good kids in the program. It’s been fun.”

Simpson is no stranger to the Greenwich community. For the previous 12 seasons, Simpson was the head coach across town at Greenwich High School, coaching the girls’ soccer program. And what he did to that program was nothing short of spectacular.

During his tenure with the Cardinals, Simpson won the Fairfield County Interscholastic Athletic Conference championship outright three times and was co-champion one other time. Simpson guided Big Red to an appearance in the Connecticut Interscholastic Athletic Conference class LL tournament every year since 2005.

While the first few weeks are a learning curve for any of the athletes when it comes to the start of an athletic season, there’s just as much of a learning curve for Simpson as head coach at Brunswick School.

“I’m not setting any goals in stone, like getting to this record or that record,” Simpson said. “I really want them to take it one game at a time. But my message from day one has been that I am really looking to build a program here. We have some fantastic programs in the school like football, hockey and lacrosse. I would like to elevate soccer to that level. I want to be perennial playoff team and a powerhouse in the league.”

Throughout the preseason, Simpson has stressed conditioning as being one of the most important aspects to Brunswick’s success this year. He also knows they’ll need it in order to remain consistent over a difficult schedule.

“The season is a seven-week, two-games-a-week season,” Simpson said. “So, it’s a tough schedule and there’s a good amount of traveling. I needed them to be in the right frame of mind athletically. That was my first focus. After that comes the ability to play football on the field where they understand what they should be doing, where they should be doing it and why they’re doing it. And if it doesn’t work, they know the answers to what they need to correct.”

In addition to his time with Greenwich High, Simpson has a load of experience coaching young men. As head coach of the Shoreline Football Club Liverpool squad, based out of Norwalk, Simpson took that team to great heights. In 185 matches with the team, Liverpool only lost 41. Since the program started in 2010, Liverpool won back-to-back Eastern Development Program Division II championships in 2015 and 2016. In 2016 and 2017, they captured the Boys U-17 Connecticut State Championships and in 2016 Simpson guided his team to a Boys U-16 Super Y National Championship.

“I have the experience to know that when you come across clubs from different areas, they have different talent,” Simpson said. “Deerfield, Mass., is a distance away from Greenwich, Conn., but there are some great clubs that are just across the border. So we know that a lot of these players will be playing at a high level. I am expecting a tough competitor out of all these schools. That’s why it’s so important for our guys to be like a vacuum with all their information, so that way they go out there and they are ready.”

This year’s Brunswick School soccer roster will have 22 players on it, two for each position. And that was done on purpose.

“There’s a lot of competition for places,” Simpson said. “I really want to get competition for playing time. There’s a lot up for grabs.

Leading the way for Brunswick will be captains Nick Boardman and Dante Polvara. Last season, Polvara netted 15 goals and six assists for the Bruins, while teammate Boardman finished with seven goals and five assists. Both were named to the WNEPSAA Class A team, as Polvara was named to the Class A Select Team and Boardman was honorable mention.

“They are both fantastic players and are both gentlemen,” Simpson said. “They are the heartbeat of the team. They play at a high level and are very humble in their ability. They make sure that they are very inclusive of all the players. They should form a solid partnership the whole season. They are going to be two that are going to be marked by the rest of the league and it’s going to be interesting to see how they are going to handle that type of marking.”

Between the pipes will be another familiar face, as Harry Barringer will be seeing a lot of time as goalie.

“Harry’s a very good player,” Simpson said. “He’s a great competitor and is a fantastic athlete. He’s pushing our other goalie Eric [Meindl] to play better. We are definite in a good spot when it comes to goalies at Brunswick.”

In front of Barringer on defense will be Ben Israel and Jamie Polak, both mainstays from last year’s team. Simpson plans on running a bunch of different players in the center back position.

Bringing back every varsity player from last year’s squad, Simpson is hoping that the camaraderie on the Bruins will be at an all-time high.

“We’ve added some new players and some younger players as well, but the camaraderie on the team has been very good,” Simpson said. “They want to play for the guy next to them. Their attention during training and preseason games has been excellent and they have taken the coaching from Chris [Forester], John [Kaptcianos] and myself very well and have put it into practice. They aren’t afraid to try new things and that’s very important to me.”

For Simpson, it wasn’t an easy decision for the longtime head coach at Greenwich to go from red and white to brown and gold. But Simpson is more than eager for his new challenge.

“It wasn’t jumping from one FCIAC program to another,” Simpson said. “Or it wasn’t from one gender in the FCIAC to another. It was a complete change and that challenge has been fantastic. I love to coach and love to coach either gender at any age. To be able to work with these young men and show them the values that I want to instill in them has been fantastic. I have two wonderful coaches that are helping me more than anybody could imagine. They are around the school and know the heartbeat of Brunswick. So I am learning a lot from them as well.”

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