Late Goal Propels DA to Draw Against Loomis
Coming off of two big wins last week which saw DA defeat its opponents by matching 4-1 score lines, the boys were eager to take on a well-coached and very disciplined Loomis team that already has eight wins on the season. That being said, from the first whistle the big green showed a sense of belief that they could play with anybody. While it took some time to adjust to Loomis’ technical brand of soccer and their ability to move the ball from their defenders, through their midfield and into the attacking third, we were able to muster up a couple of great scoring chances.
After missing a couple of the aforementioned opportunities to go ahead on the visiting team, a Loomis striker snuck through our backline, receiving a ball from his center midfielder and was just able to get a toe to the ball, knocking it out of the reach of Senior keeper Tim Gerber ’17 and into the bottom right corner of the goal. The DA boys didn’t let the goal put them down and they continued to press forward in search of an equalizer before the half. PG goalkeeper turned midfielder Luke Crimmins came onto the field in the 33rd minute and scored on his very first touch in a DA jersey. A long throw in from George Fair ’17 was headed on to the back post by fellow PG Chad Haggerty ’17 and found an open Crimmins ’17 who finished the job. With the late goal, DA and LC would go into the half tied at a goal apiece and geared up for what would be a very exciting second half.
Prior to the game, DA knew that LC had some talented strikers up top and we saw just that when LC striker Michael Suski ‘19 drilled a rebound into the upper left corner after Gerber ’17 made the initial save. Again, finding themselves down a goal, DA would need to dig dip. A point blank save by Gerber ’17 with time winding down gave DA some life and with under two minutes to play, DA earned a corner. Senior Jack Wood ’17 delivered a low driven ball that was knocked to the back post by Freshman Zach Davis ’17 and found the head of Senior George Fair ’17 who delivered his twelfth goal of the season with 1:16 left on the clock. When all was said and done DA would walk away with a tie in front of a great home crowd on a beautiful Wednesday afternoon.
The work of Senior captain Brian Davis ’17 cannot go unnoticed as he instilled a sense of belief in the team from beginning to end.
The big green will travel to play Exeter on Saturday at 4:30 PM in Phelps Stadium looking to improve on today’s performance.
Go Big Green!