Taking a touch towards the line off a lofted cross played in by right back John Rauen ’17, Owen Glover ’19 buried the ball in the goal, putting Andover Boys Soccer up 1-0 against St. Paul’s this Saturday.
Later in the half, St. Paul’s rallied back and tied the game at 1-1. A scoreless second half earned Andover a draw in its first game of the year. A 5-0 loss to Brooks later in the week brought Andover’s record to 0-1-1.
Coming into its first game against St. Paul’s, Andover looked to move the ball through the defense and midfield to create chances for its forwards.
Will Raphael ’18 said, “In the game against St. Paul’s, the team worked hard to get into our positions and keep possession. We got balls in the box and pressed well in the final third.”
Glover said, “We wanted to press hard defensively in the attacking third so we could win the ball back immediately after we lost it. We possessed well, but should have played faster through the midfield to create more opportunities.”
Against Brooks, Andover let up a goal within the first 20 minutes of play. The half ended with Andover trailing 3-0, and the team conceded two more goals in the second half.
Looking ahead toward future games, Andover looks to be more decisive with its passing in order to prevent turnovers.
Raphael said, “The team needs to clean up our passes and make sure that we know what we are going to do before receiving the ball.”
Glover said, “To improve, we need to play much quicker and decisively so that we can keep our opponents guessing and create more chances.”
Head Coach Will Orben said, “I think it’s a really important time for us to improve because there is a lot of tough games ahead of us but there is also a lot of potential in the team. There’s a lot of players who are still getting their positions sorted out and getting comfortable and getting people really believing in what we’re doing.”
“But there are big opportunities in this team. There are a lot of guys that can make a difference as we go ahead. I think right now we are really thinking in terms of our improvement and just getting ourselves in a place where we are really playing the way we want to play and feeling confident in what we are doing,” added Coach Orben.
Andover travels to Loomis Chaffee this coming Saturday in hopes of its first win.
