Co-Captain Alex Torrens ’24 scored one of six goals against St. Paul’s on Friday.
Louis-Thomas Vincent ’25 plays his first season with Andover Boys Soccer.
Recently committing to Colby College, Co-Captain Zane Matraji ’24 plays in the midfield for Andover Boys Soccer.
Friday 10/13 – Andover: 6, St. Paul’s: 0
Monday 10/16 – Andover: 3, St. Sebastian’s: 3
Wednesday 10/18 – Andover: 2, High Mowing: 1
After a clean sweep against St. Paul’s on Friday, Andover Boys Soccer came back from a 3-1 deficit at halftime against a strong St. Sebastian’s (St. Seb’s) squad to earn a tie on Monday. Later in the week, on Wednesday, Andover had a mid-season scrimmage against High Mowing in which it pulled up many JV1 players.
According to Spencer Salhanick ’24, the team had a quick start in its victory against St. Paul’s and never let up. Its ball movement proved to be a prominent strength, showcasing the synergy the team continues to nurture.
“We scored a banger right off the bat and the momentum kept us going, goals kept flooding in. Our defense performed well… They had no real attacking presence, [our goalie] Jack [Alexander ’25] didn’t have to do much. I think we transitioned the ball from our defense to offense well and found our targets. We played through balls well and I think that was our key to success,” said Salhanick.
Paul Gichana ’25 emphasized the team’s need to seize every goal-scoring opportunity. Given the lack of shots on target in Monday’s game, it became crucial for the team to make the most of each chance it had, something Gichana did not believe the team accomplished.
Gichana said, “From my perspective, being clinical in the final third is something we can improve on because in a very tight game, you can only get so many chances, maybe two or three the entire 90 minutes. I think we could have scored a lot more goals.”
Monday’s game against St. Seb’s exemplified Andover’s grit, perseverance, and ability to adapt to poor weather conditions. According to Co-Captain Alex Torrens ’24, the rain proved to be a challenge for Andover.
Torrens said, “Obviously with the rain and [it being] on turf, it made it a lot harder to play through the middle and play those precise passes because the ball is bouncing…all over the place. It [is] so much harder to take touches and dribble in that compact space… [We] had to adapt and look to play more direct, trying to skip our middle line and look for the forwards in behind and trying to win that second ball to advance, so I think we had to change our play style a bit today, but that’s part of being a good team, being able to adapt.
Salhanick mentioned that the team was disappointed at the result of the match, but focused on the fact that it was still able to salvage a tie due to its determination in the second half.
“For our team morale, it was demoralizing. We were down 3-1 at half. After scoring one, they scored three… But then we kind of came back together and performed. We worked so hard in the second half and scored two goals and performed very well, and outperformed them tremendously. So I think for our team, the first half was a blow for sure, but the fact that we were able to come back in the second half and respond very well was actually a good thing even though we wound up with a tie,” said Salhanick.
Torrens believed that Head Coach Edwin Escobar played a pivotal role in sparking the team’s comeback. His half-time speech inspired and instilled confidence within the team.
“He gave us an emotional speech, he told [us] that this isn’t over, that we have to go out there and defend our turf, that we need to play at the level we have been playing all season and that we are capable of… You could tell from the huddle that everyone believed that we could make a comeback and I think that was a massive part in why we actually did come back,” said Torrens.
In Wednesday’s mid-season scrimmage against High Mowing, Andover pulled up several JV1 players who played their part in the game. Kai Myles ’27 noted how games scheduled close together have taken its toll on the team.
In an email to The Phillipian, Myles wrote, “Today the team played very well especially considering we played a game on Monday and were given barely any time to recover due to how close the games were. We did well to deny High Mowing any open chances and we made sure we took our chances too. Even some of the players that came in from our bench and some JV1 players put in a shift to help us pull [through] today.”
Looking ahead to the match against Northfield Mount Hermon (NMH), Andover viewed High Mowing’s scrimmage as preparation for playing against similarly sized and aggressive players on Saturday.
Myles wrote, “I think the game today helped up really gave us kinda a ‘practice’ for [NMH]. With a team like High Mowing who should be just as physical and just as big as NMH players, it was a good way for us to practice and I think we dealt with this team very well which gives us high hopes for the important game against NMH.”
Andover Boys Soccer will play NMH at home on Saturday.
