Andover’s fifth and sixth grade co-ed soccer team won second place in the B Division this year. Back:
Cam Perkins, Delaney Young, Enrico Mori, Dylan Heller. Middle: Lagan Salathe (holding Doug Norris), Elliott Norris, Gus Kiedaisch, Wyatt King, Jack Colvin. Front: Jason Koziol, Andrew Croteau, Brice Bendixsen, Caden Budget, Church Salathe. Photo: Jen Hauser
The Andover Soccer league ended the season with a couple of fun afternoons of tournaments. This year our teams had 73 participants from grades K to grade 6.
The K-2nd graders were coached by Lindsay and Scott Allenby with help from Samantha Grunewald, Abigail Webster and Peter Hattan. The last Saturday session for this group was held on October 22. The kids had a great time working on ball handling skills, shooting, juggling and small sided competition. This was the first year our second graders were invited to a mini tournament on October 8. The tournament was hosted by the New London Recreation League. Andover had 9 young players divided up into two teams for 4 versus 4 and 5 versus 5 games. The players worked hard and had a great time on the field.
On October 9, the 3rd and 4th grade boys team attended the Bob Andrews Soccer Tournament in New London. Though scores were not kept, the boys played their hearts out and had a good time, despite the rainy weather. The parents made the most of it as the boys were well fed with cupcakes and cookies (and some grapes and carrots too) throughout the afternoon. Michelle Dudek and Heidi Murphy were the coaches of the 3rd and 4th grade boys. Passing and sportsmanship were the two priorities for the season and the boys did well at both. The 3rd and 4th grade girls team did not attend the tournament this year but had a great season. Their coaches, Harvey Pine and Chris Bentzler made great strides and said the girls got better with each game and always showed good sportswomanship. The team was rather large, which will show promise to continue with a separate girls 5/6 grade team for next season.
The 5/6 grade coed team, which was coached by Dan Mori and Brook Ellis, with help from Dave Salathe and Owen Bendixson, had a strong record. The end of the year MVSL tournament was held in Warner on October 15. The Andover players worked hard and placed second in their division. Not bad considering at the beginning of the year we weren’t sure there would be enough players for a team.
The Recreation Department would also like to thank Leighton Terwilliger and Claudio Marcus as they volunteered their time to referee most of the home games for the teams. We also had Camden Donovan, a Merrimack Valley High School soccer player, referee a few games too. Thanks go out to all parents in supporting their young players throughout the season. Don’t forget players, if you ever get bored, it doesn’t hurt to kick a soccer ball around!