On Wednesday, Sept. 9, the GDS men’s varsity soccer team beat Flint Hill School 3–1 in a hard-fought battle.
The team traveled to Philadelphia last week to play William Penn Charter School and St. Joseph’s Preparatory School in two non-league matches. They lost both games 4–1.
Wednesday’s home game was a different story. Although the game started off slow—both teams’ strong defensive lines limited goal-scoring oppertunites—GDS’ strong offense ultimately propelled them to the win.
Approximately 25 GDS students attended the match. The student section was electric: The crowd jeered at some of the referees’ calls and bellowed in support of their team.
Towards the end of the first half, senior and co-captain Nathan Tureck received the ball and dribbled it through the Flint Hill defense until he was one-on-one with the opposing goalkeeper. Tureck maneuvered around the goalie and struck the ball into the right corner, putting GDS up 1–0.
Soon thereafter, junior Anthony Baez-Deras missed the goal wide left. Flint Hill then came down the field strong, ultimately weaving past goalkeeper and junior Charlie Meisler when he came out of the goal to try to stop the attacker. The Flint Hill player tapped the ball into the open net, tying the game 1–1.
Even with the Flint Hill goal, GDS still appeared to be in control of the game going into halftime: The Hoppers had largely held possession of the ball and were keeping up the pressure on the Huskies.
The second half started strong for GDS’ offense. The Flint Hill goalie saved a shot fired by freshman Henry Isserman, and minutes later a Flint Hill defender fouled Isserman, giving GDS a free kick. Senior and co-captain William Cromer took the shot, and his ball sailed towards the goal and pinged off the cross bar. The student section let out a groan. Junior Lucky Dodge then received a pass outside the 18-yard box, then shot the ball and missed high.
With all their attempts, GDS seemed bound to score. And eventually they did. Midway through the second half, GDS crossed the ball into the box and Cromer struck the ball into the back of the net. The Hoppers were back in the lead, 2–1.
“I thought the team really picked it up in the second half,” Meisler said. “In the first half we were a little slow, and I made a mistake, but we were able to recover after that first goal and played better in the second half.”
Soon after Cromer’s goal, Meisler went out to the top of the 18-yard box to challenge a Flint Hill player but was called for a penalty after the Flint Hill player fell down. Meisler—and the GDS spectators—were not pleased with the decision: Meisler argued with the referee while the student section heckled the call.
The Flint Hill player lined up for the shot and then attempted to fire it into the left corner. Meisler saved the ball, and when the Flint Hill player followed up with another shot, Meisler saved it again, diving to his right. The GDS crowd roared.
Meisler “gave us a huge double save with that penalty after a bad call, which helped us ultimately win the game,” senior Arjun Bhargava said.
“I’m not sure if I was really thinking,” Meisler said as he recalled the moments before the penalty kick. “It was obviously not a great call, but I’m happy I was able to make up for it [the previous Flint Hill goal].”
The rest of the game was smooth sailing. Sophomore Christian Coates scored after the Flint Hill goalie mishandled a cross from junior Rafa Westelius, and ten minutes later, GDS had won the game.
“We obviously made some mistakes today, but we made up for all of them, and we pulled through,” senior Nico Libby said. “It was a great opening to the season.”
GDS’ next game is at the Bullis School on Thursday, Sept. 17 at 4:30 p.m.