Heading into the second half with a 14-1 lead over Dexter, Andover Boys Lacrosse’s Will Murtagh ’18 darted past his defender and fired a bullet of a shot into the back of the net, scoring his third goal of the game. Andover capitalized on Murtagh’s hat-trick, beating Dexter 17-3 while pushing its regular season record to 5-1.
Murtagh said, “It felt great to put in three goals. The team helped so much by being supportive, and running the plays just the way they were drawn up. We felt really good going into Friday’s game. We had just come off of a strong win against Northfield Mount Hermon, and we had a very productive practice cleaning up our offensive sets.”
Head Coach Stephen Moreland said, “Our team had two great practices leading up to the Dexter game, so we were ready to play. Traditionally, Dexter is very tough, but they are a bit down this year. We jumped on them early which allowed us to substitute liberally beginning in the first quarter. It was terrific to see our young guys play a lot of minutes and perform so well.”
Jack Beare ’15 said, “Offensively, we moved the ball very well and capitalized on our opportunities. We are getting more players involved in the offense and it is helping us create more depth throughout our roster. Defensively, we have played with more intensity. Also, our goalies have been playing very well by making saves on shots that should have been goals if it weren’t for them.”
Coming off of its win on Friday, the team traveled to Brewster on Wednesday, winning the game by double digits, 14-4, for the second time in as many games.
Ryder Garnsey ’15, one of the team’s top scorers, scored nine out of the 14 Andover goals against his former school.
Garnsey said, “Our defense played phenomenally all game, led by [goalie] Cyrus Scott who once again turned in an unbelievable performance…My teammates did a great job of finding me in positions where my hands were free and in a good scoring position, so [my] hat is off to them.”
Captain Tim Bulens ’15 added, “Defensively, we did a great job communicating our one and two slides. Our off-ball players also did a great job hedging in when they were one pass away and effectively took away a lot of our opponents offensive options.”
“Although the win was definitely a result of the team coming together, two players made a huge impact: Max Anthony ’15 and Garnsey. [Anthony] was a force at the faceoff, while [Garnsey]. . . led the team with nine goals,” continued Bulens.
When asked about the team’s improvement, Beare said, “We have really come together as a family. We all trust each other on the field and know that if we play as a unit we will be very successful, especially as we enter the stretch of our season with more difficult opponents on the schedule. Offensively, we have become very unselfish and that has allowed us to find the right looks that are resulting in goals.”
Andover will play at home against Bridgton this Friday, looking to build on its momentum.
