Boys' Soccer Routs New Hampton in Strong Display

EXETER - Boys’ soccer demolished New Hampton at home on Saturday. The team finished out the game with a stellar 6-0 score and bumped up their record to 4-3-1.“New Hampton wasn’t much of a challenge for us,” senior captain Henry Stevens said. “We absolutely smoked them, and the score reflects that completely. We outplayed them, out muscled them, out ran them, out pressured them, you name it.”“We came out with a quick start and continued it throughout the game,” lower Devin Moore said. “New Hampton wasn’t quite as strong as us but they battled until the end.”Head coach AJ Cosgrove credited the win to New Hampton’s limited offense and Big Red capitalizing on the gaps with skill and good eyes. Cosgrove highlighted performances from senior Slater Sullivan, who scored one goal, and upper Ted Hart, who netted a brace and tallied an assist.The team has had a rocky season so far. Although they have been bouncing back between wins and losses, Big Red has been able to keep morale and effort up throughout the season.“The season hasn’t gone as well as it has in the past few years, but we’re adjusting here and there to fix it,” Stevens said. “I’m not worried at all. Exeter Boys’ Soccer is all about competing, and that’s what we’re going to do.”“We are a pretty good team looking for a big win,” Cosgrove said. “Right now, we are good at beating mediocre teams and competitive when we play good teams.  It can be tough to win in soccer games where the two teams are matched up evenly.  When I look at our record, I think that it’s possible we could have only one loss if a couple of bounces had gone differently.”Moore agreed that the lost games were tight, saying that “we’ve had some tough losses where it could have gone either way.”Cosgrove offered some insight into some of the difficulties. “We have many new starters on the field, and our lineup has been unsettled, as it hasn’t been obvious who should play where and what system best suits our talent,” Cosgrove said.“We have quite a bit of depth on this team, as I can go four or five players deep on the bench and not lose too much on the field," he continued. "However, we are also a relatively young team. At different times this year, I have started three 10th graders, two 9th graders, and two 11th graders.”The athletes could use this win to propel them through the next few difficult games. The team faced Worchester on Wednesday, then Northfield Mount Hermon School on Saturday.Moore thinks the win helped the team with a morale boost. “This game was big because we got some confidence going into the game Wednesday against a strong Worcester team,” Moore said.The team is ready to work hard and push through the coming games.“This week will be challenging and possibly season changing,” Cosgrove said. “A sweep of NMH and Worcester places us within the Elite 8 in Class A soccer.  Losing both makes us pretty average.”“We’ve got a tough schedule this week, playing a 7-1-1 Worcester first followed by an equally talented Northfield Mount Hermon,” Stevens added. “We’re focusing one game at a time.”