9/14 – Andover: 0, Belmont Hill: 1
9/18 – Andover: 0, Milton: 0
On Saturday, Boys Soccer (0-1-1) fell short in its season home opener against Belmont Hill. Although Andover changed its formation at halftime to apply more offensive pressure, Belmont Hill scored the match’s only goal. On Wednesday, the team traveled to Milton and walked away with a scoreless game.
Co-Captain Sebastian Mejia-Rivera ’25 debuted his Senior season and a second year playing for Andover on Saturday. Mejia-Rivera noted how Andover opted to view the loss and also commended Belmont Hill’s goal-scorer.
Mejia-Rivera said, “Props to the striker [from Belmont Hill], he just ran very fast and put it past our goalie. Unfortunately, we weren’t able to score one past them, but we know what we did wrong, and what we could have done better. We learned a lot from this game and we’ve already started discussing tactics for our next game this Wednesday, which is against a very strong team.”
The team dynamic has shifted since graduating a significant number of Seniors last year, and many new and young players are getting onto the field. Jonathan Bu ’26 commended Kai Myles ’27 for his performance.
“Kai Myles… he was on Varsity as a [Junior] last year, so he’s a tough ’27. He’s going to be very good with the ball. He scored a lot last season so he’s going to be a big part of our offense since he’s a striker. Our firepower is going to be quite crucial with him,” said Bu.
Marc Nelson ’25 reflected on his performance this past Saturday and noted his hopes of taking initiative in leading the team.
Nelson said, “I made some opportunities, missed a couple, but I’m definitely one of the people on the team that has to lock in in order for our team to be the best we can be… the team has a lot more chemistry this year compared to our last year. It feels like everyone meshes together much better and we are working really hard to make up for all the Seniors we lost.”
With drastic changes in the starting lineup since last year, the team is focused on team building. Mejia-Rivera reflected upon the loss and brought up his excitement looking forward to the future of the team.
Mejia-Rivera said, “On paper, the truth is that we had a stronger team last year due to having a core roster that had been together since their freshman year. This year we have a bunch of new guys, we still have a big roster, we just have to teach the new guys the expectations of an Andover Varsity Soccer team and the pressure that comes with it. We feel optimistic that the team will keep learning throughout the season and we will eventually be successful this year.”
According to Nelson, some players are already stepping up to the plate to make big plays when the team needs it. He highlighted Louis-Thomas Vincent ’25 as one teammate who he thinks will be a breakout player this year.
“I’ve been trying to tell people for the last two years that he is absolutely class. He didn’t really get minutes last year, although I thought he deserved it, he’s getting them this year, and my goodness he’s putting in work with those minutes… He’s a rock, you cannot push him off the ball, the ball is on a string when it’s at his feet, and he’s so smart because he knows exactly what you’re going to do before it happens. There’s literally no way to get by him,” said Nelson.
Bu commented on Wednesday’s game that left both teams scoreless. He reflected on Andover’s first two games and compared that to how the team will attack its next matchup against Loomis Chaffee.
“We played more of a conservative style against Belmont Hill… If we come out with that same firepower and capitalize on those chances that we had against Milton, we should be successful against Loomis.”
Andover Boys Soccer will play away against Loomis on Friday night.
