'Crazy good athlete' who plays 3 sports excels in net for Brighton soccer
HARTLAND — If a Brighton soccer player can survive the team’s pregame introduction ritual, he can handle anything the opposition dishes out.
As each player is introduced, he runs toward his teammates at midfield, jumps in the air and collides with goalkeeper Charlie Burchfield.
At least once or twice before every game, a teammate is knocked to the ground.
“I’m not exactly sure where it started,” Burchfield said. “I just remember the very first goalkeeper I saw do it was (2022 graduate) Chris Sharp. Since then, we’ve kept it a tradition. Will Evans did it last year. Now it’s passed down to me. Next year, it will be Reece Meyer.”
Burchfield is used to competing in physical sports at Brighton, playing hockey in the winter and lacrosse in the spring, so he brings that element to pregame introductions.
He also brings that energy when he enters the game, which he’s done in the second half of Brighton’s first four games while splitting goaltending duties with Meyer.
Burchfield has yet to allow a goal in the equivalent of two full games. He and Meyer combined Monday night for the Bulldogs’ third shutout, a 3-0 victory over archrival Hartland.
Burchfield was a contributor to a state runner-up hockey team and a regional championship lacrosse team as a junior. For the time being, he’s all in with soccer, even though it’s the sport he gave up in fifth grade.
“I was driving to work one day with my neighbor, Jeff Vandemergel,” Burchfield said. “Soccer tryouts were going on freshman year. He was like, ‘You know what, you should go play again.’ The second day of tryouts I showed up and I made the team. I played two years of JV and this is my second year of varsity.”
Many of Brighton’s top players are soccer specialists, playing the game year-round. Hockey is the sport Burchfield plays outside of high school season. He played for Team Michigan’s 11th-grade team in the CCM NIT Showcase in Plymouth, Minn. in April.
“He’s a crazy good athlete,” Brighton coach Mark Howell said. “He’s one of those kids if he were to specialize in anything, he would be phenomenal. He loves playing the different high school sports between hockey, lacrosse and soccer. Come high school season, he’s locked in and ready to go. He’s kind of an animal back there.”
Burchfield made a big save on a point-blank chance by Hartland’s Brady Quinn less than two minutes after entering the game to keep the Bulldogs (3-1) up by one goal.
Burchfield said there’s something special to a Brighton-Hartland game, no matter the sport.
“It’s always a really fun game to look forward to,” he said. “You play them three times in hockey, once in lacrosse, twice in soccer. Nothing can beat when you play them in the (hockey) state semifinal and you beat them in triple OT. That was crazy.”
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It was senior Colin Robertson’s first experience in the rivalry. He scored with 1:23 left in the first half to open the scoring and made it 2-0 with 18:54 left in the game.
After his second goal, he received a yellow card for taunting Hartland fans who were razzing him the entire game.
“Honestly, hearing all the hooting and hollering from the crowd, it kind of gave me some fuel,” said Robertson, who played club soccer in the fall until this season. “I never really get chirped that much, but going out there getting chirped, it helped me to enjoy the game more, knowing I was in their head, baby.”
Devlin McGinnis scored his sixth goal of the season with 6:17 left in the game. Hartland (2-1) played a man short after receiving a red card with 12:15 left in the first half.
It could have been an even bigger blowout if not for the play of sophomore goalie Trip Tomyn. He started the game by robbing Robertson on a blast from close range and made several big saves on the Bulldogs’ top players to keep the game from getting out of hand.
“We’re very pleased with what we’re seeing out of a kid that’s just a sophomore,” Hartland coach Andrew Kartsounes said. “He really kind of owned it today. Even though we ended up with three goals against, he had a really good game today and kept us in it.”
Contact Bill Khan at wkhan@gannett.com. Follow him on Twitter @BillKhan.
This article originally appeared on Livingston Daily: Brighton wins rivalry boys' soccer game over Hartland, 3-0
