On a perfect fall afternoon, Deerfield hosted perennial powerhouse Andover, certain we were in for a tough game. We weren’t wrong. Both teams started strong and did not let up. It took us a moment to get a sense of the game, then we made some early adjustments on both offense and defense, creating a more coordinated wall on their consistently strong free hits and doing a better job communicating on attack. We met Andover’s speed with our own hustle to the ball and quick look for the pass, opening up some excellent scoring opportunities and effectively shutting down their attacks. During the second quarter, Ella Waag, captain Ellora Devitre, Alana McDonough, and Audrey Steffensen put together some awesome teamwork as a forward line, while at the midfield, Maggie O’Brien and Virginia Sullivan kept fueling our movement on offense. Piper Wilson, always effective at midfield, played so well on the forward line for the first time today. Given everyone’s hard work, it was unsurprising that the second quarter ended—no time left on the clock—on an offensive corner, which featured a booming shot directly on cage from left back Miriam Toschik (sadly, saved by their goalie). We carried this driving energy into the third quarter where, four minutes in, again on a corner, captain Rose Manning received the insert, sent the ball to right back Rayner Loos at the top of the circle, who took a gorgeous shot that smacked the back of the cage—the only goal of the game, and a decisive one. Rayner also had a critical save at the other end of the field in our own defensive goal, which typified our huge day defensively. In clutch moments, sweep Cece Salyer made some stellar stops followed by super strong hits up the field. But most importantly, hats off to goalie Elan Bonham who made great saves all day—and, with three minutes left in the game, made not one, but two critical saves. What a day! Great effort from each player—and a great team win. We could not be prouder. We’ll see you in early November when we meet Williston on the road.
