On Wednesday, Jenn Davis ’16 skated through the neutral zone, created space for herself and let loose a powerful wrist shot over the goalie’s right blocker to give Andover a 5-3 lead early in the third period over Lawrence Academy. Davis’s first career goal, however, was not enough for victory. Andover gave up two late goals — including one with four seconds left — to let Lawrence Academy tie the game at 5 apiece. This tie came on the heels of a 4-2 loss to St. Paul’s on Saturday.
The momentum shifted hands throughout the game: leading scorer Kaitlin Hoang ’17 opened the scoring midway through the first period on a rebound from Kelli Mackey ’15. Lawrence Academy tied the game 12 seconds later.
Captain Anna Fucillo ’15 said, “They were a solid team. They skated hard and really made us fight for the puck.”
Andover opened the second period with two quick goals from Mackey and Elizabeth Welch ’18 which gave Andover a 3-1 lead. Lawrence Academy replied with two goals of its own late in the second and tied the score again.
In the third period, Hoang netted her second goal of the day, and Davis added her goal to finish off the scoring for Andover. Desperate for some sort of offensive production, Lawrence Academy drew within one goal, scoring on a power play with two minutes left in the game, and, after pulling its goalie, Lawrence Academy tied the game with just four seconds left on the clock, sending the game into overtime.
Andover controlled the puck for nearly the entire overtime period, pounding ten shots at the Lawrence goalie. Lawrence only got off two shots in the same time. The players had several chances to score the game-winning goal but failed to capitalize and ended up tying Lawrence 5-5.
Caroline Garrity ’15 said, “I mean obviously it’s a little frustrating, not getting the win, but they were a good team, and we controlled much of the game and I’m proud of the team for that. We put on a lot of pressure and I think there are a few shots we might’ve wanted back but overall a solid effort.”
Andover outshot Lawrence 36-23, with goalie Ashley Tucker ’18 stopping the 18 shots sent her way. Andover won 64 percent of draws in the faceoff circle and held the puck in the offensive zone for much of the game.
While Andover’s tie showed an improvement from its 4-2 loss to St. Paul’s earlier in the week, the team still struggled to close out the game. After letting in two quick goals in the first period, Andover struggled to make up for lost ground. Andover brought the score to 3-2 late in the game, but with Andover’s goalie pulled, St. Paul’s added an empty-netter to put the game out of reach.
Three-year veteran Kasey Welch ’16 said, “We outshot them 31-23, but they made the most of their shot opportunities. They had a bunch of really good shots on the offensive end, and we weren’t able to do the same on our end. Some of our shots weren’t very strong. I also think we were intimidated going into the game because of all of St. Paul’s success in past years, but we did a really good job coming back from down two goals. What hurt us were their good shots and the empty net goal at the end.”
Andover will travel to St. Mark’s tomorrow to try and improve its record to 11-4-1.
