Powered by the solid combination of Captain William Faulkner ’09 and Dan Larson ’11 in net, the Andover Boys Varsity Water Polo team cruised to wins against both NMH and St. John’s Prep. Resting some of its starters, Andover faced NMH on Saturday. Despite the youth that played in this game, Andover still overcame NMH 16-3. Varsity rookie Alex Smachlo ’11 scored a hat trick to lead Andover to victory last Saturday. Wednesday’s game against St. John’s Prep started off slowly, with both teams playing swarming defense, and both goalies playing solidly. Faulkner had two nice saves while defending the deep end in the first period. Conor McAuliffe ’10 scored Andover’s only two goals in the quarter, and St. John’s answered with two of its own. Asa Harringon ’09 had a nice defensive play, deflecting a shot on net. The first period ended in a 2-2 tie. Larson, seeing his first minutes of the game in net, played extremely well at the start of the second period. Larson limited St. John’s to only one goal and Andover seized the lead with six goals in the second period. Brendan Deveney ’09 scored two goals, and McAuliffe added a great lob shot by for his third goal. Parker Washburn ’09 scored a goal on a smooth pass from Harrington, while Curtis Hon ’10 found the back of the net twice. At the half, Andover held a commanding 8-3 advantage. The third quarter started off well for Andover, as the team scored two goals in the first minute of play. The increase of Andover’s lead allowed Coach David Fox to play his varsity rookies, including Conor Deveney ’11, who saw his first minutes in the third period. Although St. John’s scored three goals, Andover held a 14-6 lead with one period left. Larson finished off the goalkeeping for Andover, making a nice save in his time defending the net in the shallow end. Although St. John’s outscored Andover in the final quarter, the varsity rookies received many valuable minutes of playing time during the second half. The Water Polo team’s record improved to 10-4 with these two wins. Andover plays a very tough opponent in Deerfield this upcoming Saturday at 4:45.
