Playing three games in the last five days, the Boys Varsity Soccer team rose to the challenge and maintained its undefeated record. The Boys finished with a disappointing 1-1 tie at Loomis on Saturday but rebounded and coasted to 1-0, 3-1 victories against St. John’s Prep and Holderness, respectively. Andover earned a goal early against Loomis on an own goal by a Loomis defender. The Big Blue held its lead for most of the first half, but Loomis responded near the end with a goal of its own. The Loomis goalie punted the ball over PA’s defenders to two forwards. One forward deflected the ball off of goalie Brendan McManus ’05 to the other forward, who drove it into the back of the net. While the PA soccer players dominated the second half and controlled the ball for most of the time, they were not able to score. The game concluded in a 1-1 tie. “We worked hard but we were tired,” said PG Martin Donohoe ’05. “We probably deserved the tie.” “It was frustrating to end in a tie, but a tie is always better than a loss,” said Co-Captain McManus. In an out-of-league game rescheduled for Monday, Andover defeated St. John’s Prep 1-0. “I thought this was a good game,” said AJ Charles ’07. “Since it didn’t technically count, players were able to play different positions than normal and the coaches were able to try different offensive and defensive lines.” Next up, the Big Blue played a solid game against Holderness on Wednesday, continuing its winning streak with a 3-1 win, Mike Spiak ’06 explained, “This was a big game for us since two years ago Holderness kept us out of the New England tournament. It was a good game and everyone played really well.” Taking advantage of a corner early in the game, TJ Thompson ’06 passed the ball to PG John Tarson ’05 who made the first goal of the game. Andover stayed ahead until about 10 minutes into the second half when a Holderness player aggressively made his way to the goal. However, the Big Blue was determined to not let Holderness get the best of it, and Spiak answered with a goal. Still unsatisfied with the score late in the game, new lower Alex Clifford ’07 sprinted down the right side of the field, beating out multiple Holderness defenders. He kicked a hard shot over the goalie into the net to score the final goal. When asked about his experience so far on the team, Clifford responded, “It’s been a blast playing with all these talented players. The team spirit here is so much better than what I’ve experienced on other teams.” Ben Hoerner ’05 explained, “I think we played a very good one-touch soccer game. Many of the goals were as a result of multiple player contributions. Our team has a lot of depth to it.” Aside from the tie on Saturday, Andover is feeling very positive about how it has played so far. Already the Big Blue has defeated two of its biggest competitors, Holderness and Brooks, with impressive ease. The Varsity Soccer team will play at home against Tabor on Saturday.
