On October 24, 2014, the Andover Eagle soccer team ended their winning season with a game against Kearsarge, on Proctor Academy’s turf field, for an under-the-lights night game. It was a frigid evening, with players huddling to stay warm on the sidelines, and fingers and ears turning red with cold. Once we took the field however, we played one of our best games of the season. The field was wide and long, and Andover felt the pressure kicked up a notch. But we passed, dribbled, and communicated, wining the game, 4-0. It was a perfect ending to a near-perfect season.

Statistics include 78 total goals scored by 20 different players and assists by 19 separate players. For the boys, leading scorers were 8th graders Camden Donovan, Myles Powers, Jack Newton, and Teigan Friedrich. Leading scorers for the girls included 8th graders Samantha Parkman and Sophia Weber, and 7th graders Vienna Marcus and Hannah Asbury. Throughout the season, four players had header goals: Myles Powers, DJ Rankins, Matt Bent, and Ryan Methven. Throughout the season, we had only one loss ( Merrimack Valley) as a team, and one loss for our girls when the team split into boys and girls squads against co-ed Kearsarge teams.

This 7th and 8th grade team is particularly talented and hard-working. They understand the game of soccer and love to play outside of practice time. They also know each other well as many of them have played together since first grade on Andover’s recreation leagues. They read each other’s body language, communicate well, set up plays for one another, and have honed foot skills through hours of practicing change of speed and direction, “nutmegs,” “Maradonas,” “overlaps,” and “fake-outs.”

Winning was fun and rewarding, but the best part of coaching this team was their love of the game, and sense of what it really means to be a “Team.  Soccer is not an individual sport, but there are certainly moments one can be selfish. Not the Andover Eagles. In practice we run sprints as fast as we can, individually. Day after day, the fastest runners finished first, stopped to breathe, and then, rather than stop, went back and ran with their teammates, encouraging them to finish strong; there was never a teammate left alone. Many players had multiple opportunities to score more goals, but often, they would pass the ball so a teammate could have a taste of the glory. This type of unselfishness earned us many compliments from other coaches and referees, and fostered a tremendously positive team culture.

The end of this season is particularly bittersweet, but I wish all the luck to our eighth graders and look forward to seeing them on the field next year in high school. Graduating players include: Aiden Kellogg, Britta Johnson, Camden Donovan, Devin Barton, DJ Rankins, Dylan Plante, Hayden Buswell, Jack Newton, Jared Frost, Jesse Wagner, Julia Royal, Lexie Emeny, Matt Bent, Myles Powers, Nelson Makechnie, Ryan Methven, Samantha Parkman, Sophia Weber, Teigan Friedrich, Zach Cronin, and Zach Shipley.

Seventh graders stepping up to lead a new squad are: Elijah Wakeman, Garrett Munson, Hannah Asbury, Hunter Hawkes, Riley Keezer, Ryelle Jennifer, Tori Braley, Vienna Marcus, and William Furtkamp.

Many thanks to Athletic Director Jim Tucker for scheduling and supporting our program so well,  Gregor Makechnie and Proctor Academy for field use, facilitating our annual jamboree, and allowing us the thrill of a night game, and to parents who shuttled back and forth, washed many loads of dirty socks, and delivered tasty and healthy snacks for every game. See you next year!