Boys’ Soccer Dominates Deerfield
The boys’ varsity soccer team faced off against Deerfield Academy this Saturday in a home game during parents weekend. Exeter came out victorious with a final score of 4-2. The win gives the team a 5-4-2 record, putting them second in the league just behind Northfield Mount Hermon.
Going into the game, the team was aware that Deerfield’s defense was not exceptional, and planned to attack from the first whistle up through the last. Upper Carson Garland said, “We knew their defense was slow. So we planned on playing a very high paced game.” This clearly paid off; Exeter quickly scored the opening goal.
The goal was scored by upper Jake Gehron, who shot from deep. Garland said, “In the first half Jake hit a banger from the corner of the 18. It hit the post and upper right corner, absolute snipe.” This gave Exeter a 1-0 lead, however they could not hold it for very long.
Shortly after, Deerfield was able to intercept a pass close to Exeter’s goal, and scored off of it. Senior Kojo Aduhene said, “There were some errors in our defense that Deerfield capitalized on early in the game.”
After Deerfield’s first goal, they got another one off of a penalty kick, taking away Exeter’s lead, with Deerfield now winning 2-1. Lower JD Jean-Jacques said, “We really needed to win this game, and with a lot of parents watching we didn’t want to let them down.”
Exeter responded with another goal from Gehron, assisted by senior Tyler Swanbeck. Aduhene said, “Tyler had a really nice assist that Jake was able to hit in.” The equalizer put the score at 2-2.
Going into the second half, Exeter came out strong with an incredible goal from Jean-Jacques. Garland said, “JD hit a lefty shot from outside the box that went into the upper left side netting.” Aduhene added, “It was a really well placed goal.”
Exeter now had a 3-2 lead, but did not stop there. Shortly after Jean-Jacques’s goal, senior and captain Jonah Johnson was able to tap another one in, extending Exeter’s lead, and nabbing the final goal of the game.
The team had tied three straight games before, so this match was definitely big for the team. Jean-Jacques said, “This was a must win game, we have been tying a lot of games before, and we really needed this one.” At the end of the game, head coach AJ Cosgrove named Gehron and Jean-Jacques as star players of the day.
This game was an important win, and Exeter is looking strong as their season comes closer to the playoffs. Aduhene said, “In the past years we haven’t been to the playoffs, but this year with only two losses we can definitely make it. The only team ranked ahead of us is NMH, and when we played them, we tied.”