Solid Battle at Tabor
The Big Blue traveled to a Marion, MA to face the Sea Wolves of Tabor Academy on Wednesday evening. From the start, the Big Blue knew they had work to do in breaking down an extremely organized low block from Tabor - their 4-5-1 caused Andover issues throughout the first half.
Andover remained patient, though, switching the ball through Oliver Buckhoff (2024) and Alex Torrens (2024) in the holding mid positions, keeping Tabor shifting and trying to find gaps where they could. Andover broke the deadlock after about 12 minutes, playing the ball out to Spencer Madge (2024), who played left back on the day - Madge threaded a great ball through Tabor’s backline to find an oncoming Kai Mayles (2027), who buried the ball in the back of the net, relieving some of the building pressure on Andover to find a solution for Tabor’s coordinated and well-coached shape.
After the opening of the scoring, Tabor continued to make their case for a dangerous counter to catch the Big Blue against the run of the play. Garrett Holman (2024), Julian Gravereaux (2024), Sebastian Mejia-Rivera (2025), and Madge kept their shape across the back, driving when they could to commit Tabor’s numbers and open up pockets of space for Ellis Denby (2024) and Zane Matraji (2024) to fill in. Marc Nelson (2025) and Paul Gichana (2025) threatened runs in behind throughout the half from the wing, but Tabor held strong. While he did not have too busy of a night between the pipes, Jack Alexander (2025) did well to organize Andover’s shape in front of him.
In the second half, Andover knew they needed to adjust to attempt to solve the home side’s block, and so the Big Blue started to stretch their wingers wider to try and get in behind Tabor’s edges. Cam Willems (2024) was a great threat in this respect, and, after some more direct play from the Big Blue to open up the game, Ellis Denby was able to find just enough daylight to put away Andover’s second goal on the day. Denby rocketed another shot in the Tabor box not long after Andover’s second, which, through a deflection off the keeper, Willems tapped to put Andover up 3-0. Late into the 2nd half, Matraji smacked home Andover’s fourth from short range, the ball almost bursting out of the top of the net past Tabor’s keeper.
Andover showed well on a cold night in Marion, compliments of good minutes from their full roster. Ryan Lam (2024) had a great run on the right wing, taking down balls over the top with the silkiest of touches. Louis-Thomas Vincent (2025) and Alvin Liu (2024) kept the center of midfield locked down, and Everett Woo (2025) and Alex Lee (2025) contributed some good offensive energy heading forward. Spencer Salhanick (2024), Peter Elliot (2024), and Keegan Markgraf (2025) did their duties at outside backs, offering solid defensive shape and balls out of the back to initiate Andover’s attack. Elijah Robinson (2025) stepped nicely into the role of the 9 in the final stages of the game, and Jonathan Bu (2026) came on to finalize the victory for the Big Blue.
Andover finishes their regular season campaign at Exeter this Saturday. We look forward to seeing you there!