Co-Captain Ellis Denby ’24 scored the third goal of Andover Boys Soccer’s game against Choate.
Alvin Liu ’24 drives the ball.
10/7 – Andover: 3 Choate: 0
10/11 – Andover: 12 Pingree: 1
Following a 3-0 win over Choate on Saturday. Andover Boys Soccer poured in the goals on Wednesday against Pingree, winning 12-1. In the game against Pingree, Andover earned an extreme lead early on, and the entire team had the opportunity to play.
On Wednesday, despite the quiet fan environment, Andover maintained a high spirit. Spence Madge ‘25 noted spirit to be one of the aspects of the game that is often overlooked but is so important to practice no matter the situation.
Madge said, “[The game] was pretty quiet, but one thing we were talking about a lot was that the energy comes from us. I think the bench and also the players on the field, all the energy came from them and just [trying] to create the energy and attain it.”
According to Paul Gichana ’25, Andover worked to improve its defense and adapt to the other team’s attack following its game against Choate. Adapting to the strategy of the opposition allowed Andover’s defense to predict the movement of the other team, while making runs to receive the ball up the field.
Gichana said, “We worked on our movements off the ball, specifically our front three. Our movements will depend kind of on what the other team will do. And especially with their defense making runs for them so that they can find themselves in our attack. … So just working with our defensive shape as well.”
The score of Andover’s game against Pingree demonstrated a disparity in talent between the two sides. Liam Rorke PG’24 commented on how the whole team got an opportunity to showcase its skills.
“In a game where there is a difference in talent, sometimes it could be hard to keep the level high, but we just kept going and kept playing and having a good time and that resulted in a lot of goals. … We’re all supporting when [everyone] scored and congratulated everyone. A lot of players got to play, so it was good,” said Rorke.
Before the halftime whistle had blown, Andover had already secured five goals, and the team was neither intimidated by Pingree nor anxious about the outcome of the game. Rorke described Pingree’s goal as a slight slip up by Andover, but the team quickly regained its composure and responded with another seven goals.
“We’d already had five by [halftime]. [We] kind of just lost focus for a second, but then we just got back to what we were doing and kept playing well and supporting each other. So it was good,” said Rourke.
Alex Lee ’25 highlighted Andover’s composure in the final third of the game, noting significant improvement since the team’s first games. According to Lee, if the team can continue to maintain pressure on opposing sides, its confidence for future games will increase.
Lee said, “The game was good. Something that was better this week, [compared to] past weeks, is that we finished our chances, which is something we’ve been working on in practice. So it was good to see that result on the field today.”
According to Lee, the team looks to hone in what it can control for future games.
“In general, we need to keep a positive atmosphere and go take each game one at a time and just focus on our plan, not the other team. Because in the past we’ve looked at the name on the shirt and that’s kind of impacted how we play. We go into the game with an expectation of the other team’s quality, so we just have to focus on our own play,” said Lee.
Editor’s Note: Alex Lee ’25 is an Associate Photo Editor for The Phillipian.
