Groton Wins and Heads to Playoffs!

We finally figured out how to win away games: play them in Groton (vs. Lawrence) or pack the whole team into a house for dinner (thank you Davey family) the night before. With full hearts and stomachs, Groton traveled down to St. Mark’s to conclude the regular season with an outstanding effort to win 1-0.

 

Part of the secret to this success was Fourth Former Henry Hodde, who had the unenviable task of marking St. Mark’s league leading scorer, Matt Leigh. Leigh seems perpetually set on fast forward, yet Hodde negated him time after time, and when he needed a little help, stalwart co-captain Charlie Pearce was there to back him up. When Steve Perchuk hurt his ankle after a tough 50/50 challenge, Third Former Nathan Zhang stepped in wonderfully to fill out the back three.

 

In fact, complementing Hodde’s standout game was the unified energy of the entire group, whether they saw the field or not. The highly charged game kept a cold day warm, and Groton moved the ball nicely throughout. When Jack Goodrich sent Chewy Bruni through halfway through the first half, it looked like Groton was sure to score. St. Mark’s goalie, seeing that Bruni was about to get past him, fouled him and accepted the red card as a result. On the ensuing free kick, Bruni struck a perfect ball—the sort of shot the heavens have granted our opponents all season—yet St. Mark’s back-up, cold off the bench, made an absolutely spectacular save to keep the ball from nestling in the upper 90.

 

After the half, and being a man down, St. Mark’s set up their bunker, looking to release to the fleet footed Leigh. Despite having three players on Leigh (as well as a few siblings, a golden retriever, a pizza delivery guy, and a parrot), Leigh seemed perpetually ready to break through for a go-ahead strike. But then there was Hodde.

 

Groton worked patiently to penetrate St. Mark’s defense as the clock ticked on. Jack Goodrich finally received a ball and jigged his way into the six before having his leg taken off by two opposing players. While Goodrich was carted off the field, the ref waved the play off as nothing more than a loving tap.

 

Finally, Nick Steinert got around the right corner and drilled a wonderful ball across the goalmouth, which a streaking Max Strong smacked smartly into the net. With Jack Pedreschi registering the shutout, Groton gave up just one goal in the last 5 games.

 

It was a wonderful win made sad only by the fact it was the last ISL game for Charlie Pearce, Jonathan Lamson, and Tim Hoopes, three seniors who have been a huge part of the program.

 

Yet the happy news has just arrived that Groton will travel to play Brooks in the quarterfinals this Wednesday, so the dream lives on!