The JV soccer team closed a second straight winning season with a 0-0 draw against Lawrenceville, a 13–2 powerful opponent. 

“As the game went on, my players felt like, yeah, they’re good, but we’re keeping up with them,” head coach Matthew Gettings noted. “We showed ourselves we’re just as good as they are.” 

Building team consistency at a boarding school introduces various challenges. The rosters change each year as new students arrive with different training backgrounds and ambitions. Gettings spends the early part of each season thoughtfully evaluating players, sometimes moving them to completely new positions based on what he observes in past games. 

“People have played certain positions, but just because they’ve played it doesn’t mean it’s the best fit for my team,” Gettings stressed with coaching acumen. “It’s not my job to make them happy. My job is to put the best team on the field.” 

During this fall season, five or six returning players gave out their leadership and game knowledge, while a strong pool of freshman class provided important contributions. Players like Joshua Fletcher ’29, Grayson Steele ’29, Hugo Townhill ’29, and Jayden Yee ’29 all stepped into key roles. 

“There are a lot of factors that go into our team’s improvement,” midfielder Derek Zhang ’27 pointed out. “There isn’t one single decisive factor. But the new freshmen brought a lot more play to the team.” 

Speed was a considerable advantage this year. Gettings designed the team’s style around factors such as quick passing, fast releases, and getting the ball up field before defenses could settle. “We could outrun a lot of our opponents,” he said. “We would run right by them.” 

Practice sessions served a pivotal role in buttressing the team’s steadiness. There are more than twenty players in the roster, and the team could run full 11-on-11 scrimmages. Drills like the “World Cup,” where two teams shoot at the same goal, and small-sided games (many players’ favorite) helped players sharpen their finishing and decision-making in tight spaces.. 

These drills and approaches manifested their reward in tight matches throughout the season. Four games ended with 1–0 in Hill’s favor, and two others finished as draws.  

Late in the season, a 1–0 win over Haverford School stood out as a noteworthy achievement. Hill scored in the final twenty minutes, then the team successfully held off sustained pressure to secure the victory. “Our opponents had a lot of chances,” Gettings said. “But our kids were doing everything just to keep it out of the net.” 

“It showed how much we improved over the season and how much faith we had in each other as teammates,” Gettings said.