Andover finished a tough week with a strong win against Tabor. The Juniors and Seniors dominated the scoreboard in the week’s three games, as they claimed all goals and assists. Despite a disappointing week overall, the team has much to build on.
In last Friday’s game at Brooks, Andover lost 2-0. Brooks scored early, and despite Andover’s best efforts, the team couldn’t bounce back. Co-Captain Brooke Van Valkenburg ’12 said, “We really struggled with working together and creating offense. It took us a while to get ready to play, and by that time Brooks had already scored two goals.”
The Brooks game was played on grass as opposed to turf, the surface Andover normally practices on. Andover took the first half to adjust to the different surface. Evagelia Toffoloni ’15 said, “We were tentative in the first half of the Brooks game. We fell behind early as we gave up two goals back to back. We picked it up in the second half but it was too late.”
“Now we know how it feels to lose and we are going to work our hardest so we don’t experience this feeling again,” added Toffoloni. Andover came home disappointed Friday night but bounced back Saturday to win 3-0 against Tabor.
“In the Tabor game, our team played as a cohesive unit, beating Tabor to almost every ball and backing each other up to keep the ball in our end. In addition to dominating the game, the energy and passion came from mostly our side of the bench and on the field,” said Toffoloni.
Lizzie Paul ’12 netted the first goal of the game with an assist from Van Valkenburg in the first half. Anna Fucillo ’15 scored her first career goal for Andover in the second half, assisted by Toffoloni. Van Valkenburg also put away a penalty stroke with two seconds left to finish off the game.
Andover ended with a solid game of strong play. “It was great to be able to come back right after losing to Brooks and prove to ourselves that if we played together then we could win,” said Van Valkenburg.
Andover took on Governor’s this past Wednesday in another upsetting 2-1 loss. This time, Andover went up in the first 10 minutes with a goal scored by Toffoloni off a corner. Governor’s managed to connect with four minutes left in the half. Governor’s then put the game away when they scored in the second half off a corner.
“I think our problem with the Governor’s game was that we were playing not to lose. We need to focus on bringing more passion and intensity to every practice, every game, every second of the time we’re playing,” added Co-Captain Hannah Beinecke ’12.
Andover came out of the week more united and eager to improve. The team hopes to better its finishing and its ability to move the ball in the midfield.
Andover will take on Choate this Sunday at home.
