Boys' Soccer Cruises Past Holderness, 3-0

HOLDERNESS, NH - The boy’s varsity soccer team faced Holderness on Saturday and came away with a strong 3-0 win. Coming off of a big 2-1 win against an aggressive St. Paul’s team last Wednesday, the boys headed up to Holderness determined to continue their progress, ultimately coming away with an overwhelming victory that put their season record at a respectable 2-1-1Upper Will Matlack compared Saturday’s play to how they looked on Wednesday against St. Paul’s.”I think it was very close to Wednesday, we controlled the ball well,” Matlack said.While the defensive efforts slipped during the second half of last Wednesday’s match, the defense held  strong this Saturday preventing them from scoring a single goal with a great performance from goalkeeper, senior Noah Wright.Big Red scored the first goal when senior David Zhao played a ball to senior Henry Stevens, who netted his first score of the season. Stevens was a force to be reckoned with, according to upper Max Rerkpattanapipat.

continuously yelled at his defenders to do something about him,” Rerkpattanapipat said.By the end of the first half, the boys had held the Holderness team off the scoreboard and led by a score of 1-0. Senior Spencer Reaves reflected on the defensive efforts of the team, including the hard work from prep Quintin DiStefano.“Quintin came in early and played a fantastic game. He shut down their forwards and did a great job of distributing the ball and making overlapping runs,” Reaves said.Rerkpattanapipat praised DiStefano’s defensive performance as well. “Our defense was dominant as always with Quentin stepping up and playing an amazing game from left back,” Rerkpattanapipat said.The second half remained even between the two sides until upper Ted Hart broke away and was fouled on the edge of the penalty area. Controversy became a factor once again this week, as Big Red should have been awarded with a penalty kick, but instead the referee spotted the ball just outside the penalty area.Senior Logan Sandor stepped up to take the free kick and buried the shot into the back of the net, putting Exeter up, and keeping sealing the game in Exeter's favor.“Logan has one of the best shots on the team. It’s powerful and very accurate and it came through during the free kick. He kicked it right past the wall and the keeper didn’t have a chance,” Rerkpattanipipat said.Towards the end of the game, many of the players on the bench received playing time and contributed to the team’s success. Rerkpattanapipat and upper Josh Desmond entered the game with a few minutes left, along with Matlack, who played a great through ball to lower Devin Moore to score the third goal, and put Exeter up 3-0. Exeter soccer alumnus Curtis Arsenault ’13, one of the team's best goalies in recent history, was impressed with the younger players and their contributions.“Will Matlack had a very nice through-ball off the bench to set up the third goal,” Arsenault said.Rerkpattanapipat thought communication was an important factor in Saturday’s win.“The lineup and formations are a big part of why our team is communicating well and I’m confident that we’ll keep up the chemistry for the rest of the season,” Rerkpattanapipat said.Big Red is looking forward to keep up the winning streak with an away match against Choate on Saturday. Big Red soccer lost 1-2 to Choate last year and is looking to avenge their defeat.