Deerfield Closes the Door on the Big Red in Home Opener

An extremely evenly played game of soccer took place on Hunt Field on a damp Saturday afternoon.  The Doors of Deerfield took on the Big Red of SPS in the seasons home opener.  In the early going the Big Red has some good chances.  Pat Cooley ‘25 struck a nice ball on frame five minutes into the contest.  This was followed with an impressive header on goal from winger Henry Wilson’26.  Deerfield served several nice balls into the SPS box, but the Big Red defense held strong with keeper Kristof Lovegren ‘25 making the key stops.  Later in the half Brandon Cho ’24 and Will Iller ’26 had some half chances in the box but could not find the back of the net.  As the half wound down, an injured Lovegren made way for fourth former Hunter Morton.  Hunter made a critical save with two minutes to go to send the teams into halftime 0 – 0 .

The second half saw much of the same with both teams trying to possess the ball and creating a few chances.  The dogged defending of Blake Truchon ‘26, Declan Schweizer ‘24, Carter Corbett ’25 and Gavin Nestler ’25 limited the Deerfield attack.  As is often the case in the game of football, it can be one loose ball that can make the difference.  The Doors had a chance at a loose ball that bounced around the box and found themselves up 1 – nil.  Despite some good attacking play, particularly in the final five minutes, the Big Red could not equalize.  A heartbreaker of a loss for SPS, one in which they played their hearts out until the final whistle.

SPS plays at a home a few times this week.  First on Wednesday afternoon versus the Berwick Bulldogs and then on Friday night versus the Big Blue of Andover on Family Weekend.

Go Big Red!