Pivoting with the ball, Natalia Suarez ’17 whipped a pinpoint cross into the fray in front of the net to Cassie Chin ’17, who slammed the ball into the back of the net with a well placed header. The goal put Andover up 3-1 against the previously undefeated Nobles & Greenough School (Nobles) on Wednesday to finish with a 4-2 victory. Andover’s win against Nobles came after an impressive 4-1 victory against Deerfield on Saturday.
With two dominant wins under its belt, Andover extended its winning streak to six games. Although the team started the season at 3-3-3, a recent mid-season push has propelled the team to a record of 9-3-3.
Heading into Wednesday’s game, Nobles had an impeccable 11-0 record and had outscored its opponents by a cumulative score of 37-7. Andover, however, was undaunted and came into the game firing.
Andover jumped out to an early 2-0 lead by employing an aggressive offensive strategy and capitalizing on Nobles’ mistakes. Zoe Oasis ’17 opened the scoring by deftly weaving her way through Nobles’s defense before smoothly tapping the ball past the goalie. Co-Captain Caroline Shipley ’16 then headed a ball out of Nobles’s keeper’s grasp and into the top right corner of the net for Andover’s second goal.
Andover’s primary offensive power source, Sarah Humes ’16, saw her scoring streak end at seven games.
Nobles battled back to notch two goals of its own, but Andover responded by piling on two more to clinch the win. Chin and Suarez combined for their collaborative goal, and Oasis scored once again with a bullet from outside the box to earn Player of the Game.
The Saturday before, Andover faced off against Deerfield and walked away with a 4-1 win. Although Deerfield was not of the same caliber as Nobles, Andover was still determined to give it its all and clinch a dominant victory.
Behind the offensive prowess of Humes and Chin, Andover leapt to an early 2-0 lead in the first half. Heading into the second half with a 2-1 lead, Andover began to effortlessly dictate the pace of the game. Shipley got on the scoreboard, and soon after, Bri Fadden ’17 scored the first goal of her Girls Varsity Soccer career to bury Deerfield.
With only three regular season games left, Shipley and the team are optimistic about the post-season. “If we can keep playing as we have been playing and [keep] winning against high caliber teams, we are going to come out of the regular season with a really strong shot of finding success in the tournament,” said Shipley.
Andover will play Lawrence Academy on Friday in an attempt to extend its win streak to seven.
