After loss against Taft, Co-Captain Liam Vitti ’26 dribbles the ball in “bounce-back” tie game against Bridgton.
Boys Soccer (0-6-1) fell to Taft, last year’s victors in the New England Preparatory School Athletic Council (NEPSAC) Class A Championships, on Saturday in a grueling match. They then battled Bridgton Academy (Bridgton) on Wednesday, which ended in a draw.
Throughout both matches, key performers like Co-Captain Kai Myles ’27, goalkeepers Adam Sealfon ’29 and Reese York ’26, and center back Tyler Tran ’26 kept the team together and motivated.
In the past few weeks, chemistry has been a key focus for the team. Defender Wyatt Orraca-Cecil ’28 noted the progress that the team has made in terms of working together.
“We have shown improvement in the ways we have played together and our pieces are coming together very nicely. Our team is going to have a lot of success in the remainder of this season because of the way we have been able to adapt to new formations and new situations and become a more well-rounded team,” said Orraca-Cecil.
Despite the team’s loss against Taft — the top team in Andover’s division — Co-Captain and defender Edrian Vargas ’27 mentioned how the team bounced back and maintained team morale to tie Bridgton.
“[Against] Bridgton, Adam and Tyler had really strong defensive performances and Kai had a lot of chances [to score]. He helped the team play their best and, overall, team morale was great,” said Vargas.
Matteo Damian ’28 talked about how the game against Bridgton was a bounce-back game after its loss against Taft, and a much needed confidence boost for the team.
“The game against Taft was definitely a difficult one. They had a lot of talented players that at times overwhelmed us on the counter attack. Although the result was not what we wanted, we moved on as a team and bounced back with a good performance against Bridgton. We had a lot of chances to score, but sadly, we could not finish any of them. The standouts today were everyone, with every person doing their job and competing against an older and stronger team,” said Damian.
Making the NEPSAC Class A Playoff Bracket is determined not only by a team’s record, but also by alternative factors. Damian spoke about the future of the season and how wins against less competitive teams in the next few weeks could make a playoff run possible.
“I personally don’t know what it takes to make playoffs currently since there is a committee that selects the teams making it to playoffs based on a variety of things. The team chemistry and morale has been good all season, even though we played really good teams and didn’t get the best results. But after this good performance today, the boys are ready to bounce back and win some more games against weaker opponents,” said Damian.
The team will play against Choate on Saturday, October 4.
