News Staff Reporter
On Saturday, April 15, three of Choate’s varsity teams rekindled the fires of rivalry battling teams from Deerfield. Softball traveled up to Deerfield, while both lacrosse teams hosted the Doors, on a mostly sunny day.
The softball players struggled to pull themselves together, only posting two hits against a strong Deerfield squad, led by their pitcher who struck out 14 Choate batters.
The Girls Lacrosse team began their game with energy and cruised to a 14-8 victory. The girls’ phenomenal performance demonstrated how much they enjoyed the pressured atmosphere. With a halftime lead of 8-4, the girls kept going strong. Newcomer Lane McVey ’08 said, “Usually they (Deerfield) are a strong team, but today we just played better than they did.”
Highlights included scoring from Lily Ackerman ’08, Kelsey Craig ’08, and Hilary Knight ’07. Following the boys varsity game there were “like zillions of people” spectating according to McVey, including parents of both Choate and Deerfield players.
The Boys Varsity Lacrosse game was the most eagerly-anticipated and exciting contest of the day. Rick Ballou ’06 said before the game that the team knew “Deerfield is good, and we are going to have to play well to beat them.” Bill Brooks ’07, a spectator, said the atmosphere was intense throughout, as each team wanted to best its rival.
In the first quarter Deerfield went up 1-0 before Jon Beek ’08 scored the equalizer. In the second period, Zach Groen ‘06 scored to tie the score at two. After half-time the boys in blue and gold knew they had to continue playing strong and waiting for their opportunities.
The second half was similar to the first as Deerfield would score and Choate would answer at three with a goal by Sam Sabky ’07, at four with a tally from Spencer Gantsoudes’ ’06, and again at five thanks to the handiwork of George Eames ’06.
At this point, both teams knew it was crunch time, where the men were to be separated from the boys. One of the “men” for Choate was Spencer Gantsoudes as he came out and scored the 6th goal for Choate to put them up by one. With 20 seconds left Deerfield evened the score, much to the dismay of the Wild Boars and their fans and the game headed to overtime.
In overtime, Gantsoudes took the ball from the top of the restraining box, and buried the ball in the back of the net to win the game for Choate and send the home fans into a frenzy. Rick Ballou said after the victory, “I think the win was bigger than ours (varsity football’s),” but “we are still a humble bunch.”
The atmosphere at the Softball game, where Choate fell 6-0 to Deerfield, and Girls Lacrosse games was not as energetic as it was on the Boys Lacrosse field. Sabky felt that the tone of the boys’ game was “better than Deerfield day,” but Steve Kwizera ’07, who did not actually attend the match, disagreed.
“No, man, no way the game was more intense, I just know it,” said Kwizera.
Softball hopes to reverse their fortunes against Deerfield in the future, while both lacrosse teams will try to carry the momentum generated by victories over their rival into the heart of their league play.
