Sports

Despite Loss, McBeth ’12 and Team Give Noble Effort

Shaky transitions throughout the midfield negated good plays on the defense and offense in Andover’s 9-12 loss to Noble and Greenough School last Friday.

Falling behind 0-3 at the start, Andover struggled to find their rhythm early, but the team came together to dig itself out of the hole and leave the first half tied 5-5.

“The girls have shown their resilience and determination, and the energy and effort from the sidelines was exceptional,” said Coach Kate Dolan.

Throughout the second half, the score continued to flip between the two teams. Early in the second half, Andover fell behind again 6-9, but later caught up to reach an even 9-9 tie.

Despite Andover’s good communication and hustle on defense, Nobles was able to capitalize on Andover’s gaps in transitions to attack through the midfield. Andover’s draw control waned, and Nobles ended up in possession of the ball more often.

Struggling to keep the ball in possession, Andover let in three more goals from Nobles, ultimately falling 9-12 when the final buzzer rang.

“Our defense played really well on Friday, and we produced pretty good offensive opportunities, but I think that our biggest issue was our transition in the midfield,” said Cara Daly ’13.

Said Dolan, “It was a game that could have gone either way but unfortunately, we simply had too many turnovers and not enough draw controls. However, it was leaps and bounds ahead of our performance on Wednesday [against Middlesex], so as long as we keep progressing and improving each time we play, we will be a very strong team.”

“We worked together a lot better as a team in the Nobles game, and we are starting to improve our transitions, which will really help us win,” said Lizzie Paul ’12.

Friday’s scorers for Andover included Greer McBeth ’12, Brooke Van Valkenburg ’12 and Paul.

Andover was scheduled to face top competitor Deerfield Academy last Wednesday but the game was cancelled due to rain.

The team will travel to face Pingree School this Saturday. Looking ahead to Saturday’s game, the team will focus especially on improving its possession skills and its ability to make connections from defense to offense.

McBeth said, “Pingree is a big game for us because we are obviously still looking for our first win. It is also an opportunity to focus on creating some offense. We’ve dug ourselves holes in the past two games that we haven’t been able to get out of. This game is a chance for us to correct this.”