Soccer BV vs Austin Prep

Gunga downs Austin Prep Cougars

The Big Blue put away their chances well against a gritty Austin Prep side on Wednesday afternoon on Smoyer Field, the match finishing 9-2. Andover relied on the full depth of their roster throughout the game, each player putting in a strong shift as Andover now looks ahead to a trip south to Taft on Saturday.

The Big Blue opened the scoring in the 8th minute after Sebastian Mejia-Rivera (2025) took down an Austin Prep clearance with a startlingly silky first touch before finding a cutting ball forward to Liam Rourke (2024) through Austin Prep’s midfield line. After turning inside, Rourke linked up with Zane Matraji (2024), chipping Matraji through for a shot on goal. After a great initial save from the keeper, Ellis Denby (2024) slotted home Andover’s first goal.

The Big Blue didn’t have to wait long before scoring their second goal, and certainly, their best goal of the day. Starting with the center back duo of Mejia-Rivera and Garrett Holman (2024), the Big Blue put together a lovely sequence of play to switch the point of attack several times through Alex Torrens (2024), Denby, Matraji, Julian Gravereaux (2024), and Rourke before playing Camden Willems (2024) over the top of Austin Prep’s backline. After drawing two defenders off the eighteen, Willems found just enough space to hit an absolute rocket from outside of the box, the ball screaming into the top corner as screams of “Golazo!” rang out from the crowd.

It wouldn’t be the only golazo of the day, though, as Austin Prep answered with their first goal seven minutes later with a 40-yard bomb from AP’s Peter Pavlakos (2024) after a failed defensive clearance. A tip of the hat to Pavlakos’ awareness and composure to score what would be his first of two goals on the day.

After some compelling back-and-forth play between the two sides, Liam Rourke (2024), who certainly did not fritter away his chances on the day, blew the game open with two fine finishes within four minutes for the Big Blue, one of which included, with an assist from Matraji, a devilishly clever cruyff at the six-yard box before a cool, finessed finish into the corner.

To close out the first half, Matraji kept the scoring tally running compliments of a scintillating through ball from Torrens, with Matraji keeping his composure on a quick break, waiting for the keeper to commit before slotting the ball home.

Much of Andover’s scoring opportunities opened up in these final minutes due to great minutes off the bench from the every-crafty and composed defending pair of Peter Elliot (2024) and Spencer Salhanick (2024), as well as disciplined and creative shifts from Louis-Thomas Vincent (2025) and Spencer Madge (2025). Mark Nelson (2025), Ryan Lam (2024) and Elijah Robinson (2025) did their jobs well on the edge and up top, providing some great offensive pressure on Austin Prep’s backline.

At the start of the second half, Matraji and Denby combined for a short corner, Denby beating his defender on the end line to assist Rourke for Rourke’s third (but not final!) goal of the day.

For Andover’s seventh, Gravereaux made a surging run from the back line through AP’s midfield before finding Matraji on the edge, who delivered another assist for Rourke, who finished his fourth goal of the day in the 56th minute.

Rourke paid back some favor by assisting Denby two minutes later, who did well to break through AP’s defense from the top of the box and find an opening to finish.

AP’s Pavlakos put away a phenomenal header in the 75th minute, his second of the day, from a great ball in from AP’s fullback.

Andover found their response and the final goal of the game with Holman playing an ingenious outside-of-the-boot through ball to Mark Nelson, who had a neat finish past the keeper in on goal.

In the second half, Andover kept the pace of the game high and played great soccer. Alex Lee (2025), Everett Woo (2025), and Vincent ran the midfield with composure, rotating to their spots and moving the ball one-and-two touch. Jonathan Bu (2026) put great pressure on Austin Prep’s defense as striker, forcing turnovers and opening up offensive breaks. Keegan Markgraf (2025) had a great shift at left back, keeping things simple and finding balls forward to break Austin Prep’s press. Alvin Liu (2025) worked to get himself in nice staging areas as a winger, ever a threat on the edge. Markgraf’s and Liu’s left-sided play complimented strong first-half efforts from Rafiq Kasumov (2025) and Alexander Coman (2024), making for a complete performance for the Big Blue.