Some athletes contribute with inspiring attitudes. Others aid their teams through gifted performance. Captain Zach Dixon ’08 provides both. Not only did he instill determination in the Andover Boys Soccer team to defeat Exeter, he scored three goals. His phenomenal performance led Andover to a crushing 4-2 victory over its archrival. The first half was back and forth with both teams receiving several good opportunities and forcing corners. However, the game remained scoreless until about midway through the half. Captain Dixon sent a ball down the right side to Mike Donelan ’08. Donelan took the pass and fired a shot to the lower left corner, beating the Exeter goalkeeper and giving Andover a 1-0 lead. Both teams’ defenses would hold, and the half ended 1-0. Andover came out strong in the second half and started to control the flow of the game. After some good ball movement in the midfield, Andover’s Garnet Hathaway ’10 received a ball at the top of the 18-yard box. Hathaway and Captain Dixon passed the ball back and forth several times, and Hathaway gave Captain Dixon a header pass. Captain Dixon took a touch and then fired a volley that beat the Exeter goalkeeper and extended Andover’s lead to 2-0. Exeter, however, answered to break the shutout. The ball flew into the 18-yard box where there was a scrum in front. Andover goalkeeper John Gardner ’08 tried to cover the ball, but it slid by him and just over the line. Andover soon retaliated. Joey Mensah ’08 sent a 30-yard pass front just over the midfield line to Captain Dixon at the top of the 18-yard box. Captain Dixon fired a shot on goal and scored his second of the game, extending Andover’s lead to 3-1. However, at the end of the first half, Exeter pulled to within a goal off a shot to the right post that beat Gardner. In the last five minutes the pace picked up as Exeter struggled to tie the game. Captain Dixon snagged the ball and fired a shot to the near side. Beating the Exeter goalkeeper, Captain Dixon achieved the nearly impossible: he scored his third goal of the game. Andover closed out the game in complete control to win its 10th game of the season. Despite dominating Exeter, Andover’s 10-3-4 record did not qualify it for the playoffs. Receiving a spot in the playoffs over Andover was St. Paul’s, who beat Andover 2-1 in the season opener. In addition to Captain Dixon, graduating from this year’s team are midfielders John Bukawyn, Tanner McNeill, Chris Thomas and Chris Wade, and backs Donelan, Mensah, Nate Miller, John Twomey and Jack Walsh. Andover will also look to replace goalkeeper Gardner. Next year, the Andover offense should perform well with the return of Hathaway and Mike DiFronzo ’11. At goalkeeper, Mitch Everts ’10 will probably be called upon to fill in the void left by Gardner. With talented depth throughout the Andover program, the team appears poised to be a contender for at least the upcoming several years.
