The clock had just ticked past the minute mark when Caroline Shipley ’16 found the back of the net against Rivers School on Saturday. Assisted by a pinpoint cross from Olivia LaMarche ’16, the lightning-fast goal gave Andover Girls Soccer a 1-0 lead.
Andover played its best soccer against both Rivers and Middlesex, coming away with a tie and a win, respectively.
Going into the match against Rivers, Andover knew it would be facing a formidable opponent after losing last year’s match-up.
Head Coach Lisa Joel said, “I think, for the team, Rivers is considered one of our toughest and most talented opponents. It’s really hard to play at Rivers [because] they have a small field and it’s very fast. We always go into it knowing we have to play our best soccer.”
These pre-game concerns quickly evaporated after only 75 seconds of play, when Shipley’s goal set the tone for the rest of the game.
“I think the early goal allowed the team to play with confidence, especially after a tough loss to Rivers last year. Overall, we played with composure and created some dangerous offensive opportunities, supported by our back four who shut down Rivers’s strikers time after time,” wrote Shipley in an email to The Phillipian.
Rivers evened the score at the start of the second half, but Andover remained steadfast. As a center midfielder, Jeanine Moreau ’16 created countless offensive opportunities while also playing lockdown defense on the other end of the field.
“In center midfield, I worked on distributing the ball out wide and switching the field of play to create open space,” wrote Moreau in an email to The Phillipian. “All of the girls worked really hard and fought until the end.”
Against Middlesex, Andover’s relentless attack proved to be too much for its opponents to handle, earning the team a 4-1 victory on Wednesday.
Zoe Oasis ’17 scored within ten minutes of the game after receiving a perfectly threaded pass by Alex Thomas ’15. A calm finish into the bottom left corner was all Andover needed to go up 1-0.
Just before the half, Oasis found Talia Rockmore ’15 with a cross from the right side of the field. Rockmore capitalized and buried the ball in the goal to give the team a two-goal lead.
In the 69th minute of regulation time, Middlesex managed to slip a goal into the back of the net, leaving the score at 2-1 with 11 minutes to go.
Andover, however, responded with two additional goals of its own, as Oasis found the net for the second time. Natalia Suarez ’17 bent a corner kick into the goal to finish off Andover’s offensive spree.
Andover constantly pressured Middlesex’s defense throughout the match. Led by forward Caroline Garrity ’15, this offensive-oriented strategy was very successful.
“We played a good amount of the game in their half of the field. Our goal was to create a lot of offensive opportunities. I think [Garrity] had an extraordinarily exciting game. The pressure and the challenges she put on inside the box created tremendous amounts of offensive opportunities for us,” said Joel.
In an email to The Phillipian, Garrity wrote, “In practice we’ve been working on controlling the ball in the midfield and taking shots by the [18-yard line]. These past few days have been focused on quick ball movement and creating space to open up the field… Because of our hard work this week, we were able to capitalize and come away with a well-deserved win.”
For future games, Andover looks to create a stronger link between the defense and the forwards. The solidified defense should have no trouble distributing the ball to its strikers.
Andover will face Loomis Chaffee on Saturday and hopes to continue its winning streak.
