Co-Captain Marianne Brunet ’12 netted a goal for Andover Girls Hockey on Saturday against Exeter, but her efforts were not enough to capture a victory in the team’s final game of the season.
Andover fell to Exeter 3-1 and ended its season with a 14 game losing streak.
“The whole season had kind of built up to this one game. We hadn’t won too many games all season, but we never gave up hope, and we hoped for a final win against Exeter. Despite losing to Exeter, we skated with them and played them very evenly, which had us looking up for this game,” said Amy Morin ’14.
Exeter drew first blood in just five minutes into the game to take a one-point lead.
Later on in the period, Exeter struck again and capitalized on some miscommunication in Andover’s defensive zone that left an Exeter skater all alone in front of the Andover net.
The Exeter player received a pass and sniped the puck into the top corner of the net to put Exeter up 2-0 at the end of the first period.
“By the end of the first period, it was 2-0, but it was nowhere near a blowout, and we kept going,” said Morin.
Andover’s perseverance paid off in the second period, and Brunet sliced Exeter’s two-goal lead in half midway through period with a powerplay goal.
Brunet kept digging at the puck in front of the net but it caught between defenders, until it found its way into the net to close the score gap to 2-1.
Both teams continued to fight back and forth but went scoreless for the remainder of the period.
Exeter delivered a striking blow to Andover late in the game when it scored with only minutes remaining to push its lead to 3-1, just out of Andover’s reach.
Andover found itself unable to score another goal and left the ice with a loss.
Despite a rough season in the scorebook, Andover’s players reflect on the season with a good disposition.
“Overall, I think we really improved [this season]. We are a young but promising team; in a year or two we will be at the top,” said Hannah Sorkin ’14.
Andover looks to continue improving and it hopes to be a greater force next season.
“I think individually, we have to keep practicing throughout the off-season, and we have to work out and become stronger. Next year, we will all be more experienced with the level of play in this league, and we will be able to be more creative and fluid on the ice because we can now anticipate where our teammates will be,” said Sorkin.
