With just two minutes left on the clock, Will Godbout ’20 ran the ball down the left corner, dribbled past his defender, and struck it into the back of the net. Godbout’s goal led Andover Boys Soccer to a 3-2 win over Choate on Saturday, bringing its record to 3-4.
Godbout’s end of game goal was the most memorable play of the game, according to Jed Heald ’20.
Heald said, “This was like the last thirty seconds, the ninetieth minute, and we [were] like, ‘This is gonna end in a tie’… and then Godbout takes it and gets around the defender and shoots and it hits the goalie and then I see it hit the back of the net. At that point I’m just jumping for joy.”
According to Co-Captain David Wang ’20 and Ethan Hong ’22, the team came out against Choate with more intensity than previous games, contributing to its victory.
“The energy was really high during the first half. We scored two goals pretty early on and then it slowed down a little bit. The energy dropped a little bit towards the end of the first half and the beginning of the second half, but we really picked it up later on,” said Wang.
Hong said, “I would say that we came out fighting and we had a lot more energy than most other games just because we felt like this was a winnable game.”
According to Adam Hassanein ’22 and Hong, the game’s high competitive level on Saturday lasted the full 90 minutes, and it was one of the more notable games of the season.
Hassanein said, “It was a very competitive game [and] we dominated for the most part. The goals that they did score were just unlucky mistakes that we made, but overall we bounced back from those mistakes. I think we put our most complete game in the whole season out there.”
Hong said, “This was one of the only games we played the full 90 minutes… I think this was a really important game for us because it shows that we can play 90 minutes and we can finish the job.”
For its upcoming game against St. Pauls away this Saturday, the team hopes to improve on offense as well as maintaining tight defense, according to Gio Pagliuca ’23 and Head Coach Edwin Escobar.
Pagliuca said, “To prepare, we’re just gonna work hard in practice this week, work on our offense some more and just keep trying to get better as the season goes on.”
“We are getting better each day, and our decision making and quality keeps improving… We are focusing on St. Paul’s and what they could throw at us. We know that their personnel has pace, and can finish in front of the goal if given time and space to operate, something that we will work on and try, to the best of our ability prevent come game day,” wrote Escobar in an email to The Phillipian.
