THE CURSE IS OVER! On Saturday, October 25th, the boys junior B footballers hosted perennial nemesis Andover on a beautiful fall day on the lower fields. Led by the first goal of the season from co-captain Emmett Aho ’27 and a stingy defense anchored by keeper Desmond Drake ’29, Deerfield eked out a 2-0 victory. With the win, Deerfield completes an undefeated season at home, with a sterling 6-0-0 record (9-1-0 overall).
Andover came out strong right out of the gate, creating several early chances and nearly taking the lead on the road. Deerfield fought back, but unlike many of their recent games, were unable to get on the board quickly. After lots of back and forth play with opportunities for each team, Deerfield finally took the lead in the 20th minute when Marshall Whalen ’29 scored his 8th goal of the season from a rebound to put the hosts up 1-0.
In the 2nd half, Deerfield wasted little time in doubling their lead. After a legendary season of near-misses, Aho finally found the back of the net with a rocket in the 37th minute to set off a wild celebration on the Deerfield bench. While that was one of the highlights of the season, there were still over 30 minutes left on the clock and a fragile 2-0 lead to defend. The team rose to the challenge, however, frustrating the Andover offense with solid goaltending and smart, possession football to see out the rest of the half.
Seniors Max Pang, Marco Feng, co-captain Jack Keller, and Teddy Hamadeh will play their last quad squad game on the road against local rival Bement School on October 29th. Game time is scheduled for 3 pm.