Despite a three goal performance from Will Walker ’11, Andover lost a close game to Holderness this Wednesday, 6-7. Andover started the game on the right foot, netting two goals early in the first quarter. This lead wouldn’t last long though, as Holderness quickly answered with two goals of their own to tie it up. Andover was able to add one more before the half ended and went into halftime with a 3-2 lead. The second half would not go as well for Andover. “We played a great first half, but we played the second half with no discipline, and it was very chaotic,” Co-Captain Luke Duprey ’10 said. After possessing well in the first half, Andover played sloppily and was outscored 5-3 in the second. When Andover finally started to gain possession back at the end of the half, the team slowly tried to crawl back and make a repeat performance of last week’s overtime thriller. Andover could not tie it up, however, and fell to Holderness 7-6. Andover’s sloppy play included 13 penalties in the game, which really put the team out of sync. “The penalties killed us. It really lowered our morale and got us pretty frustrated with the referees. Ground balls also were a large issue,” Joe Kruy ’12 said. On a high note, Andover goalie Jay Dolan ’11 played another great game in net, accompanied by great defensive play. “We were pretty solid defensively. Jay Dolan made a ton of awesome saves, and Clay Cleveland [’10] played some great defense for us,” said Duprey. Also encouraging was the play of Ryan Gaiss ’11. Andover has struggled to win face-offs all season, resulting in greatly reduced possession time. In his first time starting in the face-off X, Gaiss managed to win all but three in the game. Along with Walker’s three goals, Tommy Shannon ’12 had one, and Joe Kruy ’12 netted two. Walker also had two assists on the day. “We could have played with better discipline. We struggled in the second half, and they took advantage of our mistakes,” Duprey added. Andover looks to get back on the winning track with two away games this coming week against Tabor and national powerhouse Deerfield.