Ann Doherty ’11 deked a defender and beat the goalie on the backhand for the top-shelf goal to put Andover up 2-1 in the second period of the team’s game against St. Marks on Saturday. This goal would be the game-winner in the 2-1 victory. The game was very physical, with girls pushing and shoving each other throughout the hour. There was no fluidity to play because nearly every possession for either team was disrupted by physical play and penalty whistles in some cases. m the physical approach to the game. In the last minute of the game, she took a hit, fell and broke her wrist. Despite the injury, she continued to officiate. “I think that we played a really complete game for a full 60 minutes against St. Mark’s, and it showed on the scoreboard,” said Doherty. Andover has been wasting no time in recent practices. The team has especially focused on breakouts, forechecking and power plays. All the extra work paid off when Mari Walsh ’11 kicked off Saturday’s game with a blistering slap shot past the St. Mark’s goalie to take a one-goal lead. Running a tight defense, Andover maintained the advantage until the second period. In one of the first shifts in the second period, St. Mark’s came back to even out the score. Going into the third period tied 1-1, Andover switched up strategies and went from playing two lines to playing three. Doherty then carried the puck down the ice and scored her backhanded goal to take the lead for Andover. In addition to the two goals scored, Andover also looked very good on the power play and had several scoring opportunities that failed to find the net. “We were confident going into the game that were going to win, and then we just did what we needed to do to win it,” said Greer McBeth ’12. The following Wednesday, Andover outshot an aggressive Cushing squad. However, a few slip-ups in the second period ended up costing Andover the game. Cushing drew seven penalties in the game, and at one point Andover had a five-on-three for over one minute of play. Despite these advantages, Andover could not set up scoring opportunities. Even the referee suffered froThe first period was filled with physical back and forth play, and neither team was able to find the net. When they took the ice in the second period, Andover was shaky. Gaps in the Andover defense allowed Cushing to put two top-shelf goals on the board in the first four minutes to take a two-point lead. Despite this final push, Andover still found itself down 2-0 after a gritty matchup. Andover outplayed Cushing overall in the game, outshooting the visiting team 36-28 but was just unable to score and even up the score. “We played really well in the first and third periods, but unfortunately had a couple of breakdowns in the second that prevented us from coming out on top,” said Doherty. McBeth said, “They were very physical; we should have won, but we just could not get the momentum back after Cushing’s two goals in the second period.” Andover will continue to work hard for its upcoming game against Deerfield Academy this Saturday.
