Soxie Match with NMH Ends in Draw
Last Saturday, the girls’ varsity soccer team traveled to face off against Northfield Mount Hermon (NMH). The team demonstrated its resilience and tenacity, fighting to score up through the last minutes. The match ended in a 1-1 tie.
Soxie was fired up for its away game after a successful win against Pingree last Wednesday. Similarly to Saturday’s game, Exeter had been down, but fought back to win 3-2. “I think we went into the game with more confidence in ourselves individually and as a team,” said senior Claire Theberge.
Lower Marymegan Wright thought this motivation was crucial. “We hadn’t had an away game yet where we played our game and played to the best of our abilities,” she said. “We wanted to change that with this game.”
Lower Evie Houston emphasized the girls’ hard work, stating that “even though it was cold and pouring on Thursday, we were still out on the field, putting our all into the practice.” And the effort paid off: “Friday, we focused on possession and quick counterattacks to lead to shots, which is how we scored our goal,” said Houston.
Senior and co-captain Julianna Merullo detailed the practice regimen that prepared the team so well. “All week, we were working on finishing on the final third and getting opportunities, and I think we did that [in the game]—we forced the goalie to make a lot of really good saves.”
Though Exeter was in possession for the most the game, NMH scored first. Houston noted that “in the beginning of the season, we let that define the game, but after coming back from a deficit against Pingree, we knew that the only limitations were ones that we put on ourselves.”
Both Merullo and Wright also pointed out lowe Tessa Shields’ competitive determination throughout the game. “[Shields] played great holding down the midfield,” Merullo said. Wright echoed these sentiments, saying “I think Tessa really stood out… getting balls out of the air, keeping possession when pressured, and playing good balls to the outside.”
However, it was Wright and Merullo’s play which scored the goal for Exeter. According to Merullo, “[Wright] made a great run down the sideline and crossed it. I was running post, and it just bounced right in front of me and I just bounced it right in.” Nevertheless, Merullo was also the recipient of a yellow card in the game, after charging for a 50/50 ball against the goalie. “I just kept running [to the ball] and slammed into her, and she kind of went flying and yelled and flopped a little, and they gave me a yellow,” Merullo stated. Though Houston claimed it was “not really a foul,” Wright believed it “motivated us to win even more.”
When considering the rest of the season, Theberge added: “Something we need to work on is playing whole games, like we do when we’re tied in the last few minutes. We play our best under that pressure, and if we’re able to channel that same energy early and throughout the game…I believe that we’ll be really successful.”
Houston was optimistic as well, describing how “every game and practice, we get to know each other and our strengths and weaknesses just a little bit better.”