Abington Friends School varsity boys’ soccer suffered their first big loss in the Friends School League as they went down 3:0 Friday, September 13th. This was their first loss after two consecutive wins during preseason.
The loss to GS was reminiscent of the games between the two sides last season. This game was a hard hit for the Roos who were looking to prove themselves to GS and show more ferocity than last year.
George was able to deal with the pressure of Abington’s offense and dominated the midfield. This kept the Roos from having chances toward goal and showed their lack of cutting edge up top.
When asked how the team was dealing with the loss, AFS coach Warren Richards said, “We are gonna work on those things in upcoming games and I know that this one loss won’t be a deciding factor in the rest of our season.”
Having convincingly won all of their pre-season games under Warren Richards, the Roos looked short of ideas as they sought to come back against GS. This was unusual compared to their performance in the preseason in which they seemed more relaxed on the ball.
Starting center back Daniel Lahtaw ‘25 said, “I know we can play better. As the season progresses and we all get more comfortable making mistakes, we are gonna grow as a team and get stronger with each game.”
An overwhelming majority of the team felt that the loss was not a reflection of their skill and that they would be able to bounce back accordingly.
Team captain Marcus Ceralde ‘25 said, “We need to be more aggressive and much more confident, but I know that this game will not reflect the rest of our season.”
The importance of the loss may have been greater than the scoreline as they are now more motivated to work towards the rest of the season instead of dwelling on one bad game.
