By Michael Letendre

BRISTOL – After an outstanding fall scholastic season, a couple members of the Bristol Central boys soccer program earned some well-deserved postseason recognition.

And the 2021 boys Scholastic soccer New England Region team has a familiar name on it.

Along with the usual all-conference accolades, senior midfielder Carson Rivoira earned that All-New England nod.

Also, Rivoira and senior Mark Palma earned spots on the Connecticut All-State team as well.

That’s an impressive ledger for the senior duo, leading the Central boys soccer program to an impressive 12-4-2 ledger over 18 matches last season.

It’s another special award for Palma as he became only the second player in program history to earn All-State honors twice for Central while Rivoira is the first ever player to be named All-New England for the Rams.

Of course, the duo earned slots on the CCC South All-Conference team along with teammates Ethan Crumrine and Beckett Hennessey.

Those seeds of success were planted over the last four seasons as Central improved by the campaign, starting with that talented freshmen class which included Rivoira.

When Rivoira was a junior standout, he helped the Rams to a 6-5-2 record in 2020 which included a couple victories over crosstown rival Bristol Eastern – both during regular and postseason play.

Rivoira, a captain last season as well, posted six goals and four assists which was just a sampling of things to come.

As a senior, Central’s 12-win campaign allowed the program a No. 8 ranking in the Class L CIAC bracket, making it to the second round of the playoffs against Guilford – losing a tough 1-0 decision in the end.

Rivoira posted astounding numbers of 19 goals and eight assists, becoming a bona fide nightmare on corner kicks.

He was a player you had to mark from the onset and even then, he was just bigger and stronger than most of athletes out on the field.

He used his superior size and stature to overwhelm opposing defenses, simply getting a step on the opponent, and then drilled a header or blasted the ball past a hapless defense and into the goal.

No one finished better locally than Rivoira did over the course of the entire season.

Palma also had a good junior season, setting up his teammates and kicking in a goal or two along the way.

The offensive standout posted four goals and ten assists in 2020 and then the second-year captain upped his game as a senior.

The midfielder boasted numbers of seven goals and nine assists and was slotted all over the field.

Both captains had fast feet, were always in attack mode, and understood when to make the second pass to get a teammate the ball for a goal scoring opportunity.

Connecticut Boys Scholastic Soccer – All-New England Team

Lucas Almeida, Hall, F

Jacob Burdick, Valley Regional, M

Spencer Mix, Canton, M

Sam Montalto, Stonington, F

Nick Washington, Ledyard, M

Max Weiss, Weston, M

Ben Agerbaek, Hand, M

Preston Alessio, Woodland, M

Christian Amaral, Newington, M

Kelvin Baffour, Taft, M

Dante Bottalico, Northwestern, M

Mateo Cano, Norwalk, F

Matt Cence, Farmington, M

Aiden Colby, Nonnewaug, M

Cam DeAngelo, Old Saybrook, F

Lex Edwards, Law, F

Liam Farrell, Watertown, M

Jake Hugh-Jones, Greenwich, M

Tom Lafayette, Somers, M

Tim Lynch, Fitch, M

Fisher Mills, Ridgefield, F

Pat Osiecki, Holy Cross, M

John Reidy, Fairfield Prep, F

Carson Rivoira, Bristol Central, F

Andreas Shaboo, Bethel, F

Brady Stevenson, Xavier, F.