Young Boys' Soccer Squad Aims to End Season on High with Andover Win
Having graduated a talented crop of seniors after the 2012 season, the future of boys’ soccer may have looked bleak. Although they missed the playoffs, an injection of gifted players, both young and experienced, led Big Red to a strong 2013 season that they hope to cap off with a big win against Andover.Senior co-captains Henry Stevens and Stewart Scott and lower Sterling Weatherbie returned to their key roles on the team, but kudos must be given to the newcomers, who have slotted into coach Cosgrove’s system seamlessly and have become key components of this squad.Prep Quintin DiStefano starts at wing back while new lower Devin Moore, new upper Ted Hart (whose older brother, Brian, was a captain for Exeter and set the school scoring record in just two years) and postgraduates Slater Sullivan and Henry Hart have likewise established themselves as key cogs in the Exeter machine. This season also showcased the emergence of upper Max Rerkpattanapipat, who has come forward as a menace for Big Red.The one issue that has plagued Exeter all fall has been their inconsistency. While they would cruise past some teams (including an 8-0 thumping over Winchendon), they would struggle to find their groove against others. Although it is something to be expected out of a team in transition, the boys expected better out of themselves during a few winnable games.“There were some games when we definitely didn’t play as well as we could have, and that cost us,” DiStefano said.To their credit, though, the players worked hard throughout the season to improve their consistency. Towards the end of the season, Exeter strung together a four-game win streak. Even after Cushing snapped it in a close 2-3 Big Red loss, the boys immediately rebounded with an exciting win over Bridgeton under the lights last Saturday and a hard-earned 1-1 draw against KUA yesterday afternoon (Andover tied them by the same score).Exeter will look to use all of their momentum against an undefeated Andover squad. Although the two teams’ records may look very different (Exeter is 9-6-2, while Andover is 11-0-5), as they say, records go out of the window on E/a weekend. The margin of victory for either team has not been more than one goal since the 2008 season, when Exeter fell 0-3 at Andover.“We have some good momentum going into the Andover game, so I wouldn’t count on an Andover cakewalk,” DiStefano said. The prep will face off against his older brother on Saturday: senior Nicholas DiStefano, who is a midfielder for Big Blue.Their season may end after this weekend’s game, but the boys are ready to end the year on a high. Big Red soccer has a bright future, and a victory on Saturday would put an exclamation point on Exeter’s strong finish to the season.
