Boy's Soccer Suffers Loss To New Hampton

Following a disappointing 0-1 loss to Brewster Academy last Wednesday, the boys’ varsity soccer team lost again to the New Hampton School on Saturday, Oct. 8. The team’s loss to New Hampton is especially disheartening given their history of success against the school; this marks their second loss in 25 years to New Hampton’s team.Though the boys thought that they had learned from their game against Brewster not to underestimate a team based on its record, they were not prepared for the energy New Hampton brought to the field. And even though Exeter has demonstrated its dominance in past games against them, New Hampton had just come off of a big win and were eager for a second. “We expected them to have confidence following their first win of the season last week, but we weren’t expecting them to come at us for the first 30 minutes with the energy that they did,” upper Silas Lane explained.Upper Jack Baker also felt that Exeter had prepared itself for “a gritty game,” but that this was still not enough. “Following a loss at Brewster, we hoped to bounce back and get a big win over New Hampton,” he said. Instead, it ended up being “an unfortunate game.” Though the team successfully possessed the ball and limited New Hampton’s chances during the first half of the game, keeping the score to 0-0, their play began to fall apart in the second half. Their patience with the ball and lack of urgency to get it into the box proved detrimental, giving New Hampton opportunities to score. Due to an unforced give away and subsequent positioning errors, Exeter conceded a goal near the middle of the second half, but quickly responded with a skilled header goal by senior Ignacio Roitman. “Despite this, we couldn’t manage to get things moving,” Baker said.

“A lot of the time when someone makes a minor mistake, we make negative comments, which isn’t productive for the player or the team as a whole.”

Noting that there were gaps between the defense and the midfield and that the communication “wasn’t really there,” Baker went on to say that the team even looked “static” on the field. According to him, the team had “a collective breakdown,” which resulted in another goal for New Hampton, further hurting Exeter’s morale. The team made changes in its formation as a final attempt to come back against New Hampton, but ended up conceding a third goal. “In hindsight, if we had maintained our positioning and communicated better, we would have been able to prevent some really embarrassing goals,” Baker said.Observing that Exeter had controlled the play for most of the game, senior Collin Shapiro echoed these regrets and said “I thought we were the better team. Obviously it was tough to lose that game.” Lane agreed, adding, “We had more quality on our team, as we also did against Brewster, but the energy and passion were missing once again.”Likewise, senior and captain Quintin DiStefano remarked, “We lost to a team that we could’ve scored on lots of times.” As Lane pointed, this gives Exeter two straight losses in one week against opposition that they “should be beating.” However, he observed that the boys did have “bright moments” in their game against New Hampton, such as Roitman’s goal and some of their best possession of the season so far.Senior and captain Tarek Khartabil also noted that Exeter “dominated the play once again,” but the team’s inability to score led to its defeat. “If we can get that component together we could win a couple of games,” he said. Shapiro, too, recognized that the team has struggled with finishing in the attacking third and “finding the back of the net,” but added, “if we can figure that out I think we will be a really tough team to play against.”According to Baker, the boys also need to work on constructive communication. “A lot of the time when someone makes a minor mistake, we make negative comments, which isn’t productive for the player or the team as a whole,” he explained. Maintaining shape in the midfield and in the back, while minimizing the gaps between the center backs and holding midfielders, will be crucial for the team. Going forward, DiStefano has prioritized fixing defensive mistakes and defending as a team.On a less technical note, Baker felt “we just need to want [to win] more.” He explained, “I think I speak for the team when I say that when things aren’t going our way we tend to let it affect our mentality in a negative way.” Baker suggested that by learning to channel their frustration and finding the desire to win games, the team will be successful. Lane remained confident that the team will continue to work on the quality of its play, as well as creating and finishing goal-scoring chances—the two areas that let them down in both of their games in the last week. DiStefano emphasized that he has “faith the team will improve and bounce back from this past week.”