Marc Nelson ’25 dribbles past a Worcester opponent.
Co-Captain Ellis Denby ’24 recently announced his commitment to Tufts University.
10/28 – Andover: 4, Deerfield Academy: 2
11/1 – Andover: 0, Worcester Academy: 2
On Saturday, Andover Boys Soccer (8-2-2) traveled to Deerfield and were up 3-0 at halftime. The team went into the second half and were met with two goals from a vengeful Deerfield team. Shortly after, Co-Captain Ellis Denby ’24 scored his third goal of the day, silencing Deerfield’s efforts to surge ahead of Andover. On Wednesday, Boys Soccer took on Worcester Academy (Worcester) at home, resulting in its second loss of the season.
According to Kai Myles ’27, Andover’s Co-Captains led the way in all different parts of the field against Deerfield.
In an email to The Phillipian, Myles wrote, “Denby scored a hat trick and won us the game with his goals. [Co-Captain] Zane Matraji [’24] used his creativeness to create many chances for us yesterday. [Co-Captain] Garret Holman [’24] commanded the back line as per usual making it hard for teams to get by, and [Co-Captain] Alex Torrens [’24] made sure that it wasn’t easy for midfielders to get by applying constant pressure.”
Myles continued by sharing how the atmosphere of the team shifted after Deerfield scored two goals in a row. The goals motivated the team through the game to secure the win.
Myles wrote, “I think at the beginning of the game there was barely an atmosphere due to our dominance in the first half being up by 3 goals to 0. But we came into the second half a bit shut down and Deerfield came back and scored two. It was extremely tense at that point in time as we did not want to lose [nor] draw that game. Obviously we secured it with a last minute goal from Ellis [Denby], which killed their hopes, but we shouldn’t have made it that close for sure.”
Co-Captain Alex Torrens ’24 noted that in the game against Worcester, regardless of the result, the defense stood its ground. Although there were some unlucky circumstances that led to goals, Andover’s backline was its strong point.
“We did [a] pretty good job defensively throughout the game. One goal was just a mistake in the middle that then somehow found its way in the net. But we kept up defensively pretty well. Their second goal just came towards the end when we tried pushing up and putting more players forward. It left us a bit exposed, but I [wouldn’t] really hold that against them,” said Torrens.
In preparation for the game, Torrens described the process of thoroughly analyzing the opposing team’s tactics through film. The team identified weaknesses and practiced according to those observations in preparation for Wednesday’s game.
“[Head Coach Edwin Escobar] showed us some film of the opponents and we identified that in the press they left the opposing side open so we tried working on quick switches to the other side as well. We knew they’re big and physical so we also did some practice [with] one-on-one drills, trying to turn with a man on your back. I think in terms of the game, we didn’t necessarily execute what we practiced too much. That’s what Coach told us at halftime, at halftime he was saying how he didn’t think everything we did was translating exactly. I think we did a much better job in the second half,” said Torrens.
Andover Boys Soccer will play away against Kimball Union Academy (KUA) on Saturday.
