Sports

Girls Lax Offense Dominates Over Tabor 14-2; Loses Momentum in Tough 11-13 Loss to Milton

After a dominating win over Tabor Academy, the Andover Girls Lacrosse team allowed four unanswered goals and fell to Milton, 11-13. The tough loss moved Andover’s record to 7-3. Andover came into Wednesday’s game against Milton with confidence after registering two straight solid wins. Andover’s offense looked to be in top form, as eight players had recorded points in their previous game, a 14-2 win over Tabor. At the start, Andover came out strong and opened up an early 3-1 lead. Milton immediately responded, scoring four goals of its own to go up 4-3. The rest of the first half was filled with intense, disciplined play and both offenses were slowed down. After two goals near the end of the half, Andover went into the halftime break on top, 5-4. In the opening minutes of the second half, Milton’s offense began to click. Before Andover could recover, Milton scored four unanswered goals and took an 8-4 lead. The Andover offense, led by Captain Carolyn Pollard ’07, spent the rest of the half trying to cut into Milton’s lead. However, despite a valiant effort, Andover was unable to mount a final comeback and Milton held on to win the game, 13-11. Led by tenacious, stingy team defense, Andover came back in the second half to win an exhilarating game against national power Loomis Chafee. Andover’s 7-6 victory was the program’s first win against Loomis since the 2000 season. Loomis demonstrated its team strength right from the opening face off. The visiting Pelicans got on the board first and jumped out to a 3-1 lead. However, Andover fought back in the last four minutes of the half to tie the score at 3-3. The second half began similarly to the first, as Loomis scored three straight goals in the opening minutes to earn a 6-3 lead. Once again, Andover refused to back down. Over the next 10 minutes, Andover outworked Loomis and won the tough groundball battles. As a result of the fantastic effort, Andover scored three goals of its own to tie the game with seven minutes left. One minute later, Lauren Jackson ’07 took advantage of the shifting momentum and scored a goal from the top right, giving Andover a 7-6 lead. After the final whistle blew, Andover walked off the field with a well-deserved win against a talented opponent. Andover’s next matchup will be on Friday against Lawrence Academy.