9/11 – Andover: 3, Groton: 2
On Wednesday, Girls Soccer (1-0-0) won its inaugural game against Groton. With the addition of a few new players and a productive preseason to build team chemistry, the team is confident that this first game will be a springboard for a successful season.
Murathime Daisley ’26 described the thrilling exchange of goals during the game. Andover set the pace early with the first goal, but Groton quickly responded, leveling the score at 1-1. As the clock wound down with just 20 minutes remaining, both teams traded goals again, leaving the score locked at 2-2.
“We scored first, but then Groton scored and was able to tie it up with us, and then eventually it got to 2-2, and we had 20 more minutes left in the game. And so, we were all kind of frantic,” said Daisley.
Wylie Roossien ’26 mentioned her dissatisfaction with the shots to goal ratio. Although the team had success with setting up each goal, they fell short in execution in the final stages. Eventually, in the 78th minute of the match, Roossien, Hayden Fischer ’25, and Sarah Powers ’26 made a play that resulted in Powers scoring the game-winner.
“We generated three goals; we probably had around twenty-five shots on frame, but they just didn’t drop. I hit the post a couple of times, actually, which is frustrating. I would say that [a special moment] that comes to mind and sticks out to me was when Sarah Powers scored our game winner in the 78th minute… That was pretty amazing. She has a tendency to come up big in very important moments for us,” said Roossien.
Daisley expressed the team’s excitement about competing in its season opener following their preseason training in Maine this past August. With their high energy carrying over from those intense sessions, the team felt ready to showcase all they had worked on in their first game.
“Coming into the game, we were really hype. It was our season opener… We were really excited to come out and show [Groton] what we’d been working on. And on the bench, [the] people, you could hear them from the field, the energy was really high,” said Daisley.
Roossien commended the team’s resilience, recalling Head Coach Lisa Joel’s talk. With the squad still learning how to best work together, Roossien believes their focus and mutual encouragement played a crucial role.
“[The] first game is always important, and even though I would say there are things we’re hoping to improve upon, our ability to stick with each other when things didn’t go our way and when we were down was huge in our response. Our mentality as a group and ability to pick each other up was something that our coach, Lisa, was talking about at halftime,” said Roossien.
Roossien credited Jackie Dill ’27, who debuted as goalkeeper in the game against Groton, for delivering an impressive performance with a key save. Dill’s determination and strong presence on the field made her a standout player.
“She is only a Lower this year… but she was working super hard on Varsity as a Freshman, which was very impressive but didn’t get many minutes behind our one-year Senior. And she came out today in her first start in her GVS career and had an incredible save from point-blank range that probably would have changed the direction of the game and given the momentum to Groton… Also, she was incredibly vocal, and I think that shows a lot of leadership, especially from someone so young,” said Roossien.
Leading up to their next game, Adele Russell ’27 says the team will focus on transitions between moving the ball, rebounding, and new plays.
“We worked a lot on getting forward, getting into the box, and being able to score off rebounds, like we did. And also, crosses into the box, which really worked well for us… For the next game, we’re going to work on our counter transitions and being able to get back and transition smoothly between plays,” said Russell.
Girls Soccer will face off against Rivers this Saturday.
