Heavy rains in the days leading up to Taft’s first home match forced the Rhinos and visiting Deerfield to battle on Taft’s turf field at the top of campus. Coming into the match, both teams were undefeated, and as expected the contest was an even affair in the opening moments. As the half wore on, Taft began to control the majority of possession, and in the tenth minute, The Big Red strung together a series of passes beginning in their own defensive end. Kharym Florvil eventually found the ball and played an incisive pass to Sammed Bawa who ran behind Deerfield’s back line and rolled the ball into the far corner of the net to give Taft a 1-0 lead. Despite the deficit, Deerfield remained dangerous offensively and organized defensively, putting up a strong fight against the home side. Late in the first half, the Rhinos’ substitutes again made a big impact. After Florvil found Aaron Skeene with a pass, Skeene played the ball to the far post of Deerfield’s net, and Nur Adhikarie, just minutes after entering the match, tucked the ball inside the post for his first career Taft goal. The first half ended with the Rhinos holding a two-goal lead. The Big Red started the second half determined to put the game out of reach, but just three minutes into the second half, Deerfield cut into the Taft lead when their athletic forward chased down a long ball, held of his defender, and calmly rolled the ball past Taft’s onrushing goalkeeper and into the back of the net. Taft worked hard to respond, but the Deerfield defense refused to give in, hopeful that they could equalize the score and earn a positive result on this road trip. Fortunately for the Rhinos, James Donaldson, who had an excellent performance on the day, extended the lead back to two goals with an outstanding individual effort, dribbling past multiple Deerfield defenders and slotting the ball into the net after collecting a pass from Marvin Sibanda. The game ended without another goal, and Taft was pleased to earn a 3-1 victory and hand Deerfield its first loss of the season. The visitors fought valiantly, but the Taft back four of Taj Salawu, Zayn Daniels, Micah Umeh, and Ethan Hindle performed well, and Taft again received strong contributions from its bench. Up next, Taft travels to Andover for what promises to be a highly competitive match.