Co-Captain and goalie of Girls Varsity soccer, Alex Farrell ’10 shutout three teams in the playoffs and lead her team to a New England Victory. Farrell began playing soccer at age five, participating in local intramural club teams. At age 12, she switched from a field player to goalie, and her exceptional talent soon proved a vital asset to her team. A budding sensation, Farrell joined a regional premier club team and entered a New York Olympic Development Program, often playing for multiple teams at once. Farrell has played Varsity Soccer at Andover for four years, and has displayed remarkable proficiency and skill since her first days as a freshman. Her lower year, Farrell became the starting goalie and led Andover to its first New England Championship. Halfway through this season, Farrell suffered a knee injury that prevented her from playing for two and a half weeks. “It was my first time having a serious injury, and it hit during a really important part of the season, so it was very difficult to deal with at first,” says Farrell. Despite her injury, Farrell showed unwavering dedication by attending every game and as many practices as she could. Farrell returned to the field feeling fired up and ready for competition. From the moment she ran onto the pitch, she shutout every game for the rest of the season. Her return sparked a fuse of energy, spirit, and drive within the team that fueled it through the end of the season and the playoffs. “Our season began with a lot of ties, and when I got injured the team began questioning if we were even going to make it to the playoffs. [When I returned, Co-Captain] Katherine Sherrill ’10 and I got together with our coaches and decided that if we were going to win, we needed to focus, recharge, work together, push ourselves at practice, and decide as a team that we were going to win.” She continued, “The entire team responded really well to this change, and began noticing changes right away.” The team brought this drive with them in the first game of the playoffs when they played Nobles, the only team they had lost to during the regular season. The team’s victory ignited a chain reaction of self-confidence, motivation, and enthusiasm that helped it win its next two games. “After beating Nobles, we felt invincible, confident. We felt that we could do anything and beat any team. It made up for everything that didn’t go our way during the season. It erased all regrets, all doubts. This certainly helped our later games,” she said. In the championship game against Loomis, the two teams were tied 0-0 until the final five minutes when Andover scored. Farrell said, “I started screaming, ‘This is it! Don’t hold back! Leave everything out on the field, this is our year.” “Every player put her heart out there and afterwards, we all ran into a clump and everyone fell on top of each other. The team has such a great bond; we are great friends and we do it for each other. I could not think of a better way to end my soccer career than here at Andover with that championship,” she said. Farrell plans to attend the University of Pennsylvania next year. She will not play soccer competitively, but plans to keep up the sport on her own for fun.
