Last Saturday, Boys’ Varsity Soccer played at home against Phillips Academy Andover. In a hard-fought game for both teams, Andover ultimately came out on top, beating Choate 2-1.
Saturday’s game was a defensive battle, with few offensive opportunities for either team. During the first half, the Boars struggled to keep the ball out of their defensive zone. However, after Head Coach Charlie Fuentes and the boys made some adjustments during halftime, the team was able to find more room to play. A duo of juniors was responsible for Choate’s first and only goal: Dilibe Iloege ’18 scored off of a header, the result of an assist by Sebastian Barquin Sanchez ’18. Both Jack Hutchinson ’17 and co-captain Gavin Coulson ’17 said that the team could have improved its play in front of both goals, defending their own more aggressively and finishing more scoring chances.
Coach Fuentes also made a concerted effort to help the offense in the second half by taking Hutchinson out of the goal and putting him in the field, in order to push Zach Lopes ’18 forward. Coach Fuentes was especially happy with the performance of goalkeeper Julius Chiang-Boeckmann ’19, who came in after Hutchinson was moved into the field.
After the game, Coach Fuentes said, “Andover has a good team with a lot of talented players, so we knew that mistakes could lead to goals.” Co-captain Jack Hutchinson ’17 said he hopes the team can learn from this game and “get a little more physical on guys running through the back of the defense.”
Injuries played an important role in the outcome of this contest. Fifty-four minutes into the game, striker Abdoul Diallo ’17 went down on a play near the goal and did not return. Coach Fuentes said, “Hopefully, he can come back and play this week. Offensively, he is a big part of what we try to do, so his absence certainly has an impact. But at the same time, he is only one player, and we try to play like a team. We did score without Abdoul on the field, so it is not necessarily true that we can’t play without him.”
In addition, Zach Lopes ’18 was visibly in pain and limping during the game. Afterwards, he was attended to by trainers.
Co-captain Lucas Lilley ’17 has been out for the last three games, after pulling a calf muscle against Kent on September 24. Coulson said, “Lucas is a very important player to our team and especially to the midfield, so it’s obviously a shame that he can’t play because of his injury.” Boys’ Varsity Soccer has played well recently, despite being disadvantaged by these numerous player injuries.
Hopefully, the team will be in better health when they take on Brunswick tomorrow, October 15, on Maguire North field at 6:30 p.m.
