By Michael Letendre

On Wednesday, the Connecticut Soccer Coaches Association announced its 2020 All-State boys soccer teams for each of the CIAC classes and a couple Bristol players made the list.

This year, a senior from both Bristol Central and Bristol Eastern earned a spot on the postseason squad.

Central’s Mark Palma and Eastern keeper Nate DiLoreto were both named to the Class L All-State squad.

Palma was one of the catalysts in Central’s offensive schemes this season and his play in the middle helped the program jam the ball in the goal during several high scoring affairs.

On November 4, against a highly rated Plainville program, the senior from Central collected a hat-trick – and then some.

In the Rams’ 4-0 whipping of the Blue Devils, Palma scored all four goals in a home match victory.

Palma also set up his mates quite well this season, posting multiple scoring passes against New Britain on November 3 – leading to a 4-0 triumph for the Rams.

He also had a critical assist in Central’s regular season ending 3-0 victory over Eastern on November 7.

The senior was a bulldog who simply just pushed his way upfield to frustrate opposing defenses and score goals.

DiLoreto didn’t allow much to cross his path in the net over the last few seasons and that didn’t change much in 2020.

And he established himself quite early in the shortened fall scholastic season.

Over his first eight matches this year, the senior goal-stopper allowed just six goals as the Lancers started the campaign at 4-1-3 with just a 1-0 defeat on the road at Plainville the only loss for program to the point of the campaign.

He had three shutouts this season – including a big effort against Southington on October 27 that led to a 0-0 deadlock.

And DiLoreto could score a goal in a pinch.

The keeper can boot the ball with the best of them, often taking free kicks from midfield, and when Eastern ended up in a 1-1 stalemate against Farmington on November 4, DiLoreto added a little offense to the game to pull his team out of the grips of defeat.

In that contest, the Lancers trailed 1-0 but late in the second half, DiLoreto notched the game-tying goal via a free kick as the Indians’ aspirations for a perfect season was completely derailed by the outstanding keeper.

Last year, Diloreto allowed just seven goals in 18 matches as the Lancers finished the regular season at 14-0-2.

This fall, DiLoreto will attend the University of Hartford and compete on the men’s NCAA Division I soccer team.

Both Palma and DiLoreto were senior leaders that were able to help steer their respective programs to top-four finishes in the Central Connecticut Conference, Region B standings this fall.

Local players that made the Class LL All-State team included Farmington seniors Logan Brennan and Walter Scudder while Plainville’s Patrick Grydzewski – another senior – earned a spot on the Class M squad.

Farmington and Plainville were mainstays in the 2020 Connecticut Soccer Coaches Association poll this year but faced serious competition against the programs from Bristol.

At one point, the Blue Devils were the top ranked Class M/SS squad in the poll but ended up losing several critical matches during the middle of the season.

And that tough stretch included defeats to both Central and Eastern.

After a 5-0 start by Plainville, the program lost a 2-0 decision to Farmington before dropping a tough 2-1 contest to the Lancers on October 23.

And then on November 4, Central walloped Plainville by a 4-0 tally.