Deerfield Junior A Soccer lost a very hard fought game against a skilled and physics Avon Old Farms team on Wednesday afternoon. DA played well throughout the entire game, utilizing good ball movement and strong effort to match a very good Avon squad. Tommy Leimkuhler ’22 repelled an early Avon push, and Jared Faux ’20 sent the ball ahead to Noah Depp ’21 for Junior A’s first opportunity of the match. Strong defense from Teddy Donahue ’21 and Nasir Barnes ’21 helped DA recover each time Avon sent the ball into the DA side, working the ball up the sideline and back to the midfielders. Avon found a through ball early, sending one shot off the right post and putting in the ricochet to go up 1 – 0 against the Big Green. The offense went on the counterattack, allowing Tait Kline ’22 to send a long bomb of a corner kick to center net, with Faux’s header just barely missing the goal. Sam Lauer ’20 received a long free kick from Tomás Cushman ’22, pushing the ball into the box before the Avon keeper snagged it. Unfortunately, on the counterattack Avon found a seam in the DA backline down the left hand side, putting in a goal to make it 2 – 0. Assertive play from midfield Eric Wang ’21 led to a free kick from near the half field line, all the way to the Avon defensive line. Noah Depp punched the ball through on a clean run and sent the ball past the keeper for Deerfield’s first goal of the match. Before halftime, Avon managed to find one more goal on a lucky ricochet, leaving DA facing a 1 – 3 deficit at the whistle. After the break, Cushman, Lauer, and Gale Gai ’22 used careful touch and movement off the ball to push the ball all the way up the field. On the return, Avon again used deft skill with the ball to send a low shot past the DA keeper to go to four goals for the game. The physical play led to several free kicks for the DA group, and Wang and Will Schoelkopf ’20 both barely missed opportunities from the Avon midfield, including a heart breaking cross bar from Will. Cushman received the ball at the top of the box after some back and forth play, and sent a hard, low shot through the Avon keeper’s legs for DA’s final goal of the match. Overall a challenging day, but the Junior A team played their final home game of the season with energy and heart.