Photo by Bill Croney, The Northfield News Northfield's Zach Daley(in white) somehow managed to squeeze his way past two Randolph defenders in last Tuesday's Div.III playoff game T garvey. Despite a great effort by all hands the Marauders fell to the Galloping Ghosts by a 1-0 count in the first round of the playoffs. The Maron and White Boy's team finished their season 6-8-1. The Northfield High Boy's soccer season came to a close last Tuesday with a 1-0 loss to archrival Randolph in the first round of the Div.

III playoffs at Garvey Field.. The 8th seeded Marauder boys had the home field advantage against the 9th seeded Galloping Ghosts but the Maroon and White failed to capitalize on the advantage. With the loss the Marauder boys wind up the season with a 6-8-1 record.

Randolph took charge at the opening whistle and never let up for the entire 80 minutes. "We never let them get their Possession game going and that led to a lot of good things for us. We created lots of opportunities for ourselves," said Randolph coach Richard Rollins.

Despite the Ghost's offensive attack the Marauders had a few first half runs in the first half and the defense kept Randolph at bay for the first forty minutes. The regular Northfield possession game couldn't get going and it was the "D", especially deep backs Jonathan Marcotte, Sam Dyer, and Hobie Warren along with Goalkeeper Billy Whaley that let the Maroon and white head into the halftime break with zeroes on the scoreboard. Whaley made five saves in the first half and would add two more in the second for his game total of seven stops. Whaley made two first half stops on breakaways by The Ghost's leading scorer, Dylan Smith, and he blocked two Randoph rockets in the final ten minutes of the opening half. "Billy kept us in it. He had a couple of good saves,"

said coach Geoff Davison.

The lone score of the game came just four minutes into the second half.

Northfield was whistled down for tripping in the penalty box to set up a Randolph Penalty kick.

Randolph's Zack miller beat Billy Whaley to the right to make it 1-0, and the Ghost's had all the scoring they would need on this cold and damp afternoon at Garvey Field.

Northfield just couldn't get the offense going and Randolph kept up the pressure. Once again Billy Whaley stepped up to keep the Marauders close.

Just two minutes later Whaley was called upon again. This time he made two stops on Randolph's Alex green in the span of less than a minute.

Those saves were a bit ironic because Alex Green and Billy Whaley are teammates on the Marauder Hockey team. (Randolph doesn't have a hockey team and Northfield has roster space, so Alex green can play for Northfield even though he is a Randolph student,) Northfield did finally begin to get some pressure on Randolph in the last 30 plus minutes. The Marauders forced the ball deep into the Ghost end and they got four corner kicks but Northfield shots were like the preverbal hen's teeth. Randolph 'Keeper Cody Martin recorded only two saves in the entire game. "It's disappointing. It's not the way we planned to end our season," said Northfield coach Geoff Davison. "It way my first season as a coach and I learned a lot. It's a team game.

We win or lose together we don't win or lose as individuals," the coach added. With the loss the Marauder boys finish the season with six wins, eight losses, and one tie.