Andover Boys Soccer didn’t lose a game this season until October 20 at Northfield Mount Hermon, but after a 1-2 loss to Deerfield on Saturday and a 0-2 loss to Worcester Academy four days later, the team has lost three of its last five games.
Andover’s record is now 9-3-2 as it heads into the final three games of the season.
The team’s only goal of the Deerfield game came when Nick DiStefano ’14, a starting centre-midfielder, charged the ball off a corner-kick and passed to Sam Block ’14. Dribbling to create space between him and his defender, Block hurried toward the goal and struck a beautiful shot into the top left corner.
After this goal, however, the team was unable to stop Deerfield’s counter attack. Deerfield score on two well-placed shots and went on to win 2-1.
On Wednesday, Andover traveled to Worcester Academy, hoping to regain the momentum that it had in the beginning of the season.
Andover came out of the gate with much intensity and forced Worcester back on its heels.
“In the beginning, [Worcester] was playing arrogantly and didn’t expect us to come out strong,” said DiStefano.
Andover had four quality scoring opportunities within the first five minutes of the game but failed to finish on all four.
“We just couldn’t finish the ball [on Wednesday]. Actually, that has been our biggest issue all season. We have to work on that [finishing] if we want to succeed in the future,” said Adigwe.
About five minutes into the game, James McLeod ’13 delivered a rocket into the back of the net, but the goal was eventually overturned by the referees because of a foul that Andover had committed just seconds before.
After the disallowed goal, Worcester began to ease its way back into the game.
Around 15 minutes into the half, Worcester executed a perfect give-and-go pass, before Worcester’s forward gained some separation from an Andover defender and rocketed the ball into the back of the net from around the 18-yard line to give Worcester a 1-0 lead.
With more confidence after its first goal, Worcester controlled posession as the tempo of the game shifted in its favor.
After about 30 minutes, a Worcester player trapped the ball and was able to dribble through some open space. The Worcester player arrived in front of the goal unguarded and put the ball in the top corner of the net, putting Andover behind 2-0.
As the final minutes of the half dwindled down, Andover’s defense grew fatigued and had trouble keeping the Worcester players covered.
As the second half began, Andover substituted its reserve players into the game. “It was a good opportunity to get [the substitutes] into the game. They played very well and showed a lot of guts and heart,” said DiStefano.
Though both teams had a few potential scoring opportunities, neither was able to score, and the game ended in a 2-0 Worcester victory.
Andover will have a chance to snap its two-game losing streak at home against Kimball Union Academy this Saturday.
