Garnet Hathaway ’10 had a hat trick Wednesday, leading the Andover Boys’ Varsity Soccer team to a 7-0 road win over Moses Brown. In addition to Hathaway’s three goals, Andover brought forth an onslaught of offense, supported by a hard-working defense. Andover started the game strong, scoring two goals within the first fifteen minutes of action. Trevor Gulick-Stutz ’09 provided the first, knocking the ball in on a short, hard angle in the tenth minute. This goal, Gulick-Stutz’s first on the varsity squad, gave Andover a 1-0 lead. A couple minutes later, Captain Alex Clifford ’07 brought the ball downfield on an offensive drive. He took a shot after a one-on-one exchange with a defender. The ball rebounded back, and Zach Dixon ’08 seized the opportunity. He assumed possession and scored to put Andover up 2-0. “We started out really strong but died out a little bit near the end of the first half,” said Dixon. The team took the 2-0 lead to halftime and surged back out after the break, firing on all offensive cylinders. Chris Wade ’08 scored the first goal of the second half. Dixon had hit a huge cross from the right side that traveled over to the far goalpost. Wade took a single touch in on a trap and finished off the play by sending the ball into net, propelling Andover’s lead to 3-0. Quiet until this point, Hathaway made his first offensive strike of the game to give Andover the 4-0 edge. He ripped the ball from just inside eighteen yards, sending it past the keeper. While Andover continued to pile on the offense, Moses Brown struggled to mount any drives of its own. Moses Brown only came up with a couple shots on goal over the course of the game, stunted by Andover’s strong defense. “Our defense played really well as a unit,” said Dixon. John Twomey ’07 and Sam Gould ’07 worked hard in the center, while Mike Donelan ’08 and Jason Zhu ’07 helped create offense from the wings. This type of play was not without its challenges, however. “Our defense was frustrated by the physical play of the opponents,” said Captain Clifford. The defense pushed through these difficulties though, as it has all season. This was Andover’s fourth straight shut-out. After Hathaway put Andover up 4-0, Gould came through with his first varsity goal. The ball was fired in front of the goal on a cross, and Gould knocked it in to give Andover the 5-0 advantage. Hathaway scored next, flicking the ball in from inside the box, and pushing Andover’s lead to 6-0. Again just inside of eighteen yards, Hathaway beat his defender and sent a shot into the corner of the net with his left foot. Hathaway’s three goals continued his outstanding season. He currently has six goals on the season, a mark only three shy of the freshman scoring record held by former Captain Mike Spiak ’06.
