Girls' Soccer Falls Short Against In-Form Milton in 2-1 Loss, Look to Win Against NMH on Saturday

This past Friday, the girls' varsity soccer team endured an unfortunately close loss to Milton with the final score at 2-1. An in-form and highly skilled Milton side found the net twice in the first half, leaving Big Red approaching the halfway mark in despair.

Exeter’s valiant girls rallied together, garnering a majority of possession for the last ten minutes of the half. With a sudden surge forward, Big Red won a corner with a few minutes to spare.

Gifted offensive player and upper Jacie Lemos whipped the ball into the box through a struggle of Milton defensive players to upper Hailey Hudson, who proceeded to rip a shot on net.

A tough keeper deflected the shot into the box, where post-graduate Maddie Duncan leaped onto the rebound. Despite the chaos, Duncan calmly struck the shot towards net.

From halftime on, the score remained 2-1. Upper co-captain Charlotte Dillon marshaled the defense into shape, preventing any effective Milton offense from continuing.

"[Milton] was a very skilled and physical team that maintained very good possession. We responded well to this defensively and had some dangerous offensive runs against them as well," Hudson said. "Charlotte Dillon did a great job directing the defense so we could contain Milton with their strong offensive and midfield players."

Unfortunately, Big Red could not convert their superb defense into offense. However, the game overall showed immense improvement. "We have been focusing on our mentality, and this game we proved to ourselves and each other how aggressive and mentally tough we can be, which was huge for us," Dillon said. "Looking forward, we are trying to bring the toughness and fighting mentality to our next games and put balls in the net. We are pushing the offense to try and take more shots."

Hudson echoed Dillon's comments about the performance and the future, complimenting her teammates on their positive and determined attitude.

"We came into the game with a more fierce attitude and played one of our strongest games I've seen this whole season. Our next step as a team in order to improve is being more dangerous offensively and getting more shots off so our dominance during games that can be translated into the score,” Hudson said.

Although Milton held on to win with their slim lead, Big Red fought until the end. As a shorter and less physical team, Milton's imposing strength posed a difficult challenge. The girls' varsity soccer team will look to improve their offensive form and maintain their defensive strength in their upcoming away-game against NMH this Saturday.