On a rainy and cool Sunday afternoon Deerfield hosted Andover on the Fair Field turf. The first half saw back-and-forth play but no goals: Andover repeatedly drove down the right wing and looked to cross, while DA had a more varied attack but failed to create any genuine scoring opportunities. DA broke the stalemate 10 minutes into the second half: left-midfielder Sam Bronckers ’20 flicked the ball down the wing to center-forward Marcel Aziamale ’20, who shimmied forward and into the box, eluded his mark, and slid the ball to center-forward Skye Bacon ’20, who drove the ball into the near corner from the left side of the goal. Ten minutes later, Bacon again converted a ball from Aziamale, but only to have the goal disallowed due to a hand-ball call against a Deerfield player. On several occasions Andover pressed forward and came close to equalizing, but the Big Green were able to neutralize and stymie such efforts. A well-deserved 1-0 victory for the DA team, and goalkeeper Ben Diffley’s first shutout of the season.
Deerfield looks forward to a midweek match down the highway at Wilbraham and Monson School.