After pump-faking to take the goalie out of position, Co-Captain Dan Tran ’17 hammered a shot under the outstretched arm of his Choate defender, scoring a crucial goal for Andover Boys Water Polo. Despite the team’s spirited performance, Andover ultimately lost 16-7, bringing its overall record to 4-4.
Andover’s offense adjusted well against Choate’s press defense, but its lackluster defensive performance cost it the game.
Thomas Glover ’18 said, “We let Choate get a lot of fast break opportunities which they capitalized on the majority of the time. Choate was going to offense early from defense and we were unable to follow them.”
At the end of the first quarter, Andover trailed 6-1. However, in the second quarter, the team capitalized more often and scored on multiple shooting opportunities. The score maintained a 5-point margin at 9-4.
Glover said, “We did a good job staying in the game even though we were down by a lot.”
The team also struggled with defending against Choate’s older and more experienced players. Tran said, “Choate came into this game with a lot of experience on their team. They’re graduating 12 seniors this year while we are still a very young team. They managed to use their size and speed to force us into uncomfortable situations, and they capitalized on our mistakes.”
In an email to The Phillipian, Head Coach Dan O’Shea wrote, “Choate was a very good team. They clearly had very skillful and very experienced players and we were taken a bit off guard by that, especially in the first quarter. We in particular had difficulty defending the ball and often lost possession after just about one pass.”
Heading into its next game, Andover looks to make improvements defensively. In practice, the team will focus on its pick play, blocking, and careless turnovers.
O’Shea wrote, “I feel like it was a very worthwhile game for our guys. Choate exposed a critical weakness of ours, and I think all our guys recognize the work that we need to do with managing a heavy press.”
The team looks to redeem itself when it faces Loomis Chaffee for the second time this season on Saturday.
