After pressing the St. Paul’s defense during the game on Saturday, Co-Captain Brandon Girard ’16 finally broke through for the first goal of Andover Boys Soccer’s season when he tapped in fellow Co-Captain Peder Bakken’s ’16 deflected free kick. Girard jumpstarted Andover in what was an intense match-up, and new Lower Andrei Dumitrescu ’18 tallied another Andover goal in the second half to solidify a 2-0 Andover win.
In the St. Paul’s game, Girard said, “I thought we played very well as a team, especially defensively. When we had the ball, we worked it extremely well out of the back, and as a result, [we] were able to maintain the ball for most of the game. Although, against better teams, we won’t have as many chances, so the ones that we do get, we have to do better on.”
The team will be looking to improve in the attacking third of the field, focusing on shot accuracy in training. With the ability to consistently finish in the box, Andover will have a pivotal edge on its opponents. This was previously never a weakness for Andover, as Dylan Mott ’15, Andover Boys Soccer’s all-time leading scorer, was always able to capitalize on opportunities.
Still feeding off of the momentum from its first win, Andover raced into its second match this Tuesday against Brooks with heightening anticipation and won 6-0 in a blowout.
After 20 minutes of evenly-matched play, Andover seized control of the game both defensively and offensively.
Andover’s goals came from Oliver Glover ’19, center midfielder, John Sandor ’17, Bakken, Dumitrescu and Girard, who tallied two goals.
“Overall, the team has played really well – we haven’t given up a goal yet,” said Co-Captain Alex Dziadosz ’16.
Backups Glover and Rabines, among the other new additions to the team, saw solid playing time and chances to prove themselves on the field.
The team’s next opponent will be Loomis Chaffee on Saturday.
