B&M PREVAILS OVER DCDS, 3-2

On Thursday, October 20, the JV boys' soccer team traveled to Dedham to take on Dedham Country Day School. Still searching for their first victory of the season, the Gators were determined to play smart, tenacious soccer. The game started with Brimmer and May making excellent runs on goal, taking advantage of some inconsistent communication by DCDS, and maintaining excellent spacing with accurate passes. The Gators pressured the DCDS keeper early, but the shots could not find the back of the net.

Because of some injuries, some Gator defenders had to play out of the normal positions. The Brimmer wing fullbacks got sucked too far into the middle, allowing one of DCDS's skilled strikers to sneak in and put a ball past keeper Conor Murphy ’16. The Gators responded with more furious attacks, eventually earning four corner kicks in the latter part of the first half. Co-captain Andrew Kassis ’15, filling in for leading scorer Mathew Mariano ’15, who was out with illness, lifted a beautiful cross from the corner kick. Tyler Austin ’15 elevated above the 6-foot DCDS sweeper to head the ball at the near top corner. The ball just glanced off the top of the crossbar, missing by inches. Conor Murphy made a great save on goal as he stretched all of his considerable wingspan to flick his fingers on the DCDS shot. He pushed the ball up over the net and provided an inspiring moment on which to end the first half. His strong work in net kept the lead to one goal.

At the start of the second half, Brimmer came out playing even more furiously than at the start of the game. Strong through-passes from the Gator midfielders Austin Camiel ’16, Mike Gordon ’16, and Joey DeFranc ’15 resulted in stellar scoring chances for the Gator strikers. Brimmer finally got on the scoreboard when Tyler Austin took a sideline pass from DeFranc, dribbled to the goal box, and fired a hard left-footed shot across the goal mouth. The DCDS keeper could not handle the velocity of the shot as it bounced off his hands into the far corner of the net. DCDS answered back and scored another quick goal when the Brimmer defenders did not clear a bouncing ball just inside the goal box. The Gators redoubled their efforts on the offensive end. Andrew Kassis dribbled a ball into the right corner, juked his defender, and started to bring the ball along the end line. As the DCDS sweeper committed to playing the ball, Kassis sent a low hard cross along the goal mouth; the ball eluded the DCDS keeper and found itself at the foot of Tyler Austin who easily tapped it in for his second goal of the game and the game's third tie score, 2-2. At that point, Brimmer sensed that DCDS was playing on tired legs and made an all-out effort to earn the win. DCDS could not clear the ball out of their own end; the Gator midfielders controlled almost all of the loose balls and executed pinpoint passes to start scoring runs. With less than a minute left, Brimmer earned a thrown-in. Hector Morales ’15, whose throw-ins were an effective weapon for the entire contest, sent in a line-drive throw to the top of the goal box, past two DCDS defenders. Chris Hakimian ’16 calmly collected the ball, dribbled twice, and fired a low hard shot past the defenseless DCDS keeper. Thirty seconds later, the referee blew the whistle three times, ending the game with Brimmer on the sweet end of of 3-2 score.

The Gators will travel to Belmont Day School on Tuesday, October 25, to play their next game. Kick-off is set for 3:45 p.m.