Trailing 1-0 in the second half against Deerfield on Saturday, Co-Captain Peder Bakken ’16 blasted the ball into the bottom right corner of the net, tying the score 1-1. Five minutes later, Bakken capitalized on a crisp pass from Co-Captain Alex Dziadosz ’16 and launched another ball into the back of the goal to give Andover a 2-1 lead. Another goal from forward Henry Meyerrose ’17 late in the game gave Andover its eighth win of the season. Later in the week, Andover topped Worcester Academy 1-0.
After back and forth play in the beginning of the game, Andover went into the second half against Deerfield intending to emphasize its offensive strengths. Bakken played a crucial role in creating offensive opportunities for Andover.
Bakken said, “At halftime, we were down 1-0 and had struggled to settle in and play confidently. We came out from halftime ready to take it to them, and as soon we scored, everyone could feel our intensity being raised.”
“From then on, we played with the effort that had been missing in the last few weeks. Moving forward, we are going to work on concentrating on keeping that same intensity for the full 90 minutes of the game,” continued Bakken.
Later in the week, Roberto Rabines ’16 built on this momentum and took control of Andover’s attack against Worcester, scoring an unassisted goal with 19 minutes left in the first half. Rabines’s goal proved to be the difference in a 1-0 victory.
Rabines said, “Throughout the game, the defense was solid. However, the team needs to attack faster. Overall, we played really well against Worcester.”
Post-Graduate (PG) Brad Schlosser ’16, the team’s starting right back, said, “We were able to play our style the whole game and control the ball really well. We created a lot of chances from bringing the ball down the outside and cutting in toward the goal. [Rabines] was able to capitalize on a chance inside the box, and that put us up early on in the game.”
Andover headed into the second half with a 1-0 lead, and its tenacity and defensive tactics enabled the team to stay on top until the end of the match.
Bakken said, “In the second half, we really put our foot down defensively, and we only allowed one shot, which was from 35 yards out.”
Schlosser said, “Worcester played very direct, so they played the ball long and over our defense in the hopes of being able to run onto it. However, we were able to beat them to most balls, and we put pressure on them, which ultimately held back their attack.”
Andover will look to continue its strong offensive and defensive strides when it takes on Kimball Union Academy this Saturday.
Schlosser said, “Against Kimball Union, we are going to have to come out strong from the very beginning. We’ve been playing well, but we need to make sure that we stay consistent and driven until the end of the season.”
