Sports

Going for Gold: Bid For 1st

Andover Girls Water Polo will look to come home with the top spot this year after finishing second at the New England Championships.

“Going into the season, we’re expecting to do pretty well. I think we have a good chance of winning the New England tournament,” said Kay Xia ’15, a returner.

The team finished last year with a 6-2 record. Both the team’s losses came on the same day against Deerfield and Hopkins.

“Most of our more competitive rival teams lost a lot of Seniors or key players. Hopkins will probably be our biggest competition this year,” said Xia.

After graduating formidable players in Co-Captains Amelia Danovitch ’13 and Julia Smalcho ’13, Andover will look to its returners to step up. Returning players include Co-Captains Lauren Conte ’14 and Kaitlin Simpson ’14, as well as Corinna Torabi ’14 and Eden Livingston ’15.

“Both of [our Co-Captains] are very enthusiastic and strong players,” said Xia.

This year was the first year the team made cuts to select the final roster.

“We had about 27 people trying out, which is the most we’ve ever had, I think. Our finalized team has 20 players,” said Xia.

Andover will face off against Williston, Loomis and Exeter on April 5.

“We are really excited for this season. The team is looking really fast, since we have many Varsity swimmers, and our new players are showing a lot of potential,” said Xia.