Soccer, Boys: Junior A defeats Williston

Event Details

Boys Jr. A Soccer won a tough, back and forth victory against a well-coached Williston squad 4 – 2 on Saturday. Williston pressed the attack early, but Alex Strait ’21 and Seth Blain ’20 swept the ball clear of the box on back to back penetrations by the Williston front line. The Williston midfielders demonstrated good motion and handling, switching the field as necessary to gain a foothold in the Deerfield side. This led to a free kick, initially blocked by keeper Matthew Gardner ’19, but dribbled past his outstretched hands by a Williston striker to put Williston up 1 – 0. Newly energized, the Deerfield counterattack led to a corner from Andy Han ’19, who connected with Phillip Weymouth ’18 for a brilliant bicycle kick past the keeper to tie the game 1 – 1. After the half, center midfielder Colin Olsen ’20 sent a long push ball up to Jared Faux ’20 and Jason Liu ’18, who connected on a strike into the left of the net to make it 2 – 1 in favor of DA. However, Williston came back with a clean cross in front of the top of the box, off a DA defender and into the net to tie the game again at 2 – 2. Deerfield pressed, dominating possession and the attempts on goal, bolstered by good ball movement and communication. On a breakaway, Faux sent it ahead to Connor Guest ’20, who passed it back to Adrian Yao ’20 for a clean shot. Although the keeper blocked the shot, Faux was right there for the rebound, and buried it on the follow to make it 3 – 2 Deerfield. Gardner continued to defend the net in the remainder of the second half as Williston attempted to send the ball up and over the DA defensive line on successive possessions. In the final moments, a breakaway through ball by Guest past the defense put DA up 4 – 2 to ice the game.