Boys' Soccer Falls Short in NMH Game
Over Family Weekend this past Saturday, Big Red soccer, like the majority of teams on campus, played Northfield Mount Hermon. This game was arguably the hardest of their season and, if anything at all, was a long-winded struggle. The final score came out to 0-2, putting another stain on the team’s season record.
“We bounced back after that and limited their scoring chances for the rest of the half, but still struggled to get the ball forward and create chances.”
In the first fifteen minutes of the game, Exeter came out flat. They started off lacking intensity and motivation, passing sloppily in the midfield. All the while, this was putting NMH in good offensive shape. Halfway through the first half, an NMH midfielder breached the Exeter defense and scored the first goal with a low-driven ball into the back of the net.
For a team that excels in and finds its victories by controlling the midfield, this said a lot about their playing. The goal woke up Exeter, letting them know that they needed to step up their game.
Senior and co-captain Jack Baker said, “We bounced back after that and limited their scoring chances for the rest of the half, but still struggled to get the ball forward and create chances.” Although NMH could not get another goal in the net for the remainder of the half, neither could Big Red, having already been demoralized.
At halftime, the team talked about improving and altering defensive strategies but more importantly boosting morale. Upper Raj Das looked at the latter bit of the first half differently. “We created some good chances just before halftime and even though we were down one nil through 45 minutes, I definitely felt like we had held the upper hand as the half progressed, and that goals were imminent.”
The start of the second half was noticeably better than the beginning of the game. The passing was crisp and Exeter played with intensity up front. For one reason or another, it didn’t last long, and, as Das put it, the Exeter players “lost discipline in their form.”
Baker echoed Das’ sentiments, saying that despite controlling the flow of the game, the team could not create many goal-scoring opportunities, much less put the ball in the net. This gave way to another goal to put NMH in a 0-2 lead, solidifying the win. “They scored one goal, somewhat similar to their first, where they played a low-driven ball across the box and one of their players redirected it into the net,” Baker said.
At this point in the season, having worked out many other kinks in their playing, senior and co-captain Dolapo Adedokun, along with many others on the team, agree that what they need to work on is fervor and intensity. “Next game we need to approach with more hunger right off the bat. We have the skill and talent to be winning all our games, we just need to find the drive,” Adedokun said.
As they play Deerfield this Saturday, the boys are definitely reflecting on their battle with NMH, keeping in mind all that they have and still need to work on. Hopefully, they will find another win.