BV Soccer Starts Off Strong

After a hard-fought 2018 season that ended in the quarter finals, Exeter Boys’ Soccer is back on the grind, ready to work hard. They capped off their preseason with back-to-back victories in their jamboree this past Saturday, where they sent Roxbury Latin and Andover home with their tails between their legs. Big Red emerged with a 3-0 win against the former and 1-0 dub against the latter. Heading into the matches, the team had a lot of moving parts to focus on. Lower Aiden Silvestri, one of the team’s starting center backs this season, emphasized concentrating on “building our team chemistry and finding the right position for certain players.” Senior captain Billy Menken specifically mentioned wanting “to focus on defensive positioning and scoring goals, both of which we had some trouble with the previous weekend.”  Upper Alex Fraser said, simply, “Our focus was always to win, and also to integrate the tactics and different formations [from practice.]” Focus itself was a goal for the team, said senior Jacob Gehron. “One thing we were focused on as a team was making sure we were focused 100% of the time. Even though the games didn’t count towards our record, we wanted to get to wins to boost the team’s confidence and score a lot of goals,” Gehron said. Although the team won both matches without the ball reaching the back of Big Red’s net, Gehron highlighted that “they were labored victories.” Silvestri emphasized, “We still need to work on some of our build up play.” Gehron elaborated by saying, “I think one of our biggest challenges during the two games was holding onto possession for long periods of time in the opposition’s half.” Menken felt similarly and described the Roxbury Latin game as “a little out of control for a while.” “We had trouble settling the ball and playing intelligently and calmly at times,” he stated. Nevertheless, Menken continued to say, “Players put in constant effort, which I’m proud of. We found a better rhythm against Andover. We met our biggest goal: scoring goals.”Goals scored from yesterday included those by lower Jake Shapiro, prep Cam Guthrie and upper JD Jean-Jacques. Menken added, “Luke Breen made some great saves against Andover.” According to Gehron, “Cam Guthrie played very well and actually scored his first goal for Exeter!” Gehron also highlighted upper Jack Burgess’ performance, “Burgess had great composure and got the assist for the goal against Andover.” Senior Michael Singer gave another shout out, “Jake Gehron bagged a double.” “The whole team played well and that was what helped us win both games,” Fraser said. Looking to the rest of the season on the horizon, Fraser pointed out that they “ended preseason on a high so hopefully [they] can carry that momentum into the start of the season.” Singer expressed a “want to hit the ground running in these games.” For the season as a whole, Silvestri said the team hopes “to make it to the semifinals and possibly further. “Last year we did quite well but did poorly in the first few games,” Silvestri reflected. “This next week we want to get a win against Milton and Loomis. If we do so that would be a great success.” Gehron also believes the team can make it far, saying: “with the talent we have on the team we should at least be matching our quarter final finish from last year in the playoffs, if not surpassing that mark.” In the end, Menken placed his faith in the team’s hard work.“We’ll just continue training hard and worry about what we bring to each game. Hopefully the wins will follow,” he said.