Boys' Soccer Defeats New Hampton 2-1
The boys’ varsity soccer team claimed the second victory of its season with a close game against North Hampton School. Playing New Hampton was a new experience in terms of play style for the team this season. The greatest adjustments came from dealing with New Hampton’s excessive physicality and more aggressive play style.
“We were all super hyped up. At halftime we talked about improving our defensive shape and making sure we didn’t let New Hampton back in the game.”
Being at home, even more so than usual, the team wanted to perform to its best abilities. With extra support from the stands, it would not be hard. The game, however, did not start on the best note and Big Red came out shaky in the first twenty or so minutes of the game. Lower and goalie Jamie Lowell was forced to make very risky saves in that time. Postgraduate Tiago Schwartz has described Lowell as one of the biggest strengths of the team so far, “saving [them] on many big occasions.”
After the rough starting bit of the game, for the remainder of the first half Big Red dominated, locking down the midfield and going further to keep the ball in its half. Towards the end of the half, the ball was played to lower Billy Menken who chipped a pass over the New Hampton centerback’s head, allowing Upper Behaylu Barry to put it right in the back of the net. Soon after, Upper Raj Das was subbed into the game and in captain and senior Jack Baker’s words, his usual high work rate and intensity spurred the team even more following the goal. Das dribbled his way past numerous defenders before beating the keeper with almost no angle and sinking the ball in the net. Senior Ethan Malila commented on Das’ goal saying, “It was an amazing finish to pad our lead.”
The half ended at 2-0. Senior and co-captain Jack Baker said, “we were all super hyped up. At halftime we talked about improving our defensive shape and making sure we didn’t let New Hampton back in the game.” The second half went just as well as the latter part of the first. “We dominated the second half just as well. They played physical and tough but we were winning the game and our individual battles too,” lower Billy Menken said. As usual possession stayed with Exeter but the same little issue of being close to scoring but not finishing effectively kept happening. It culminated in allowing New Hampton to put a “cheap goal” into the net after working Lowell for so long.
Overall, the game was an important win to give good momentum to Big Red. But, it drew more attention to a flaw that the team needs to work on—putting teams away after a lead. Malila commented saying, “Our focus in future games will be to really bury teams and not let them regain any momentum after we have a lead.” The next game is crucial for the team. Northfield Mount Hermon this saturday is always a tight contest but both captains Baker and Silas Lane believe that Big Red is just equally as dangerous. “NMH will be at home next Saturday, so come out and bring your family and friends to support,” Baker said.