Andover Girl’s Hockey started the weekend with a close game against New Hampton that ultimately resulted in a loss. Later in the week, Andover also lost to Tabor. Both Andover’s offense and defense started with a strong first period and were able to counter New Hampton’s power plays. “We all showed up ready to play. We had a great warm-up and that carried over into the whole game. We played like a true team, slowly making improvements throughout even though it’s late in the season,” said Julia Marcus ’15. Andover and New Hampton were tied 1-1 going into the third period. Eliza Quigley ’15 received a penalty in the middle of the period, and a New Hampton player scored during Quigley’s penalty. In the last few minutes of the period, a New Hampton defenseman raced by the Andover defense line and sniped the puck into the top shelf of the net, a goal which resulted in a final score of 3-1. Although Andover showed improvement in teamwork and unity, it still aims to improve its offense. Andover hopes for a stronger goal-scorer, as its offense has consistently lacked the energy to generate goals. The improvements that Andover made in the game against New Hampton failed to show in Wednesday’s game against Tabor, and the team lost 7-0. Andover did not match Tabor in its skating abilites, and the communication and teamwork present in the New Hampton game were absent in this game. Sloppy passes and plays contributed to Tabor scoring five goals in the first period. “It just was another bad game. We didn’t have a great warm-up, and definitely didn’t have a great first period. After the first, we were able to hold them off pretty well, but the bad start set us off for the rest of the game,” said Caroline Garrity ’15. Andover held off Tabor fairly well in the second and third periods, only allowing two goals, and allowing zero in the third. However, Andover’s struggling offense wasn’t able to produce any scoring shots. “It was a hard game with a rough start. Luckily, we shaped up towards the end and were able to tie them in the third period. Our skating got better over the course of the game, and we were playing really well by the third period,” said Amy Morin ’14. With four games left until the final game of the season against Exeter, the team hopes to make communication and unity present in all of its future games. Small improvements have been present throughout the 12-game losing streak, but Andover needs to make those improvements consistent in its next game to prepare itself for the game against Exeter on February 23. Andover takes on Governor’s Academy and Noble & Greenough next week with the hope to improve its losing record.
