Deerfield put a bow on their exceptional season with a commanding victory over rival Choate on a gorgeous morning in the Valley. Each of the four goals displayed a strength of this memorable team. The critical role played by our ninth-graders was on display at 7′ when Will Cleary—whom team leader PJ Pirsch ’28, at our team dinner, praised as having the most raw talent of any of our players—threaded his way through several Boars and got us on the board with his first goal of the season, a brilliant weak-footed strike to the back right corner. At 13′, for the next goal, the crowd was treated to a highlight from our most dangerous offensive tandem, when Pirsch worked his magic by dribbling through defender after defender before unselfishly serving the ball up to our leading scorer, striker Cole Higgins ’26, whom Choate double-teamed all game. He touched it off his toe beyond the diving keeper for his record 26th goal of the season. The Pirsch-Higgins connection will long live on in Thirds lore. The third goal displayed the team’s ability to marry grit and hustle with strategy and discipline. Howard Jin ’27, our 2024 striker, finished this season with double-digit goals but became a more feared player because of his increasing skill at playing his position and building cooperative attacks. At 32′ he broke through the defense but fed the ball off to midfielder Kenan Ozada ’28, who, despite nagging injuries, plays like a wolverine just loosed from a cage. When he shook the last defender, Ozada sent a laser to the right to give Deerfield the 3-0 lead at the half. The fourth and final goal speaks to this team’s leadership, patience, and trust. Rich Zhou first approached the coaches about serving as this year’s captain at the salad bar back in May. A delightfully idiosyncratic young man who struggled to keep his tackles clean last season, Rich wasn’t exactly an obvious choice for the role. But from the first day of tryouts he showed himself committed to living up to the role, and the whole team—and its coaches—has benefited from his leadership, not to mention his stalwart (and card-free) performance at center back all season. In recognition of his contributions, we granted his humble request to try out an offensive position for the first time this year. He came in at left forward out of the huddle, flew up and down the wing, and at 53′ brought the ball in from wide, evaded Choate’s center backs, and chipped it up over the keeper’s outstretched hands for Deerfield’s 71st, and final, goal of the season—a moment that felt both wildly unexpected and entirely fated. As sweet as all four goals put together was the clean sheet, representing a full season of exemplary defense by a team that allowed only 1.5 goals per game. Seniors Magnus Selvig and Joaquim Cavalcante, big contributors to our goal prevention, got cheered as they departed the field with Higgins and Zhou in the final minute as we saluted the work of our Class of ’26 teammates. The coaches would like to thank each and every one of our players for the commitment they made and maintained this season—and the support their families offered, too. This team recorded as many wins as any Thirds team in memory and was unrivaled in cohesion and character. A hard act to follow, for sure.