Snatching the ball after a deflection by Choate’s goalie, Sanchie Sen ’20 took the rebound and drove it into the net to score her first career goal as a member of Andover Field Hockey. Sen’s goal contributed to Andover’s 4-1 victory on Saturday. Later in the week, Andover defeated Milton 3-0 to propel its record to 7-1.
In the first few minutes of the game, Andover let in a goal from Choate. The team easily overcame its slow start, however, once it began to successfully maneuver the ball on offense in the game’s latter portions.
After a timeout late in the first half, Andover came out with more determination. Meghan Ward ’19 and Elizabeth Welch ’18 each scored a goal for the team. With fewer than 30 seconds left in the first half, Post-Graduate (PG) Payton Donato ’17 placed another goal into the back of the net to extend Andover’s lead to 3-1.
Captain Beth Krikorian ’17 said, “After we scored one [goal], our energy just picked up and the score was in our favor for the rest of the game.”
Post-Graduate Payton Donato ’17 scored a goal for Andover against Choate.
Andover entered the second half with high energy, and a focus on its ball movement. The team’s ability to distribute the ball confused Choate’s defensive line, and goalie Alexa Matses ’18 contributed several key saves to go along with Sen’s goal.
“We passed and moved the ball really well the whole game and we maintained our energy for the longest period of time yet. We started out slow in the first few minutes but then we picked it up,” said Krikorian.
On Tuesday, Andover extended its winning streak with a shutout victory against Milton.
Despite entering the second half scoreless, Andover’s ability to skillfully adjust to Milton’s defense and create space with good passes gave it an edge over its opponents. Ward scored two goals, while Jackie McCarthy ’19 added one, securing Andover’s decisive 3-0 victory.
In an email to The Phillipian, Olivia Keefe ’17 wrote, “We were definitely outplaying [Milton] the whole game, we just kind of came together and brought up the energy after halftime to make the score show that we were better.”
When asked what the team needs to work on for its upcoming game, Krikorian said, “We just need to work on maintaining the really good energy throughout the entire game, because in some of our other games we have started out strong and then just slowly faded a little bit. And the other day we started out slow and then we kept the energy the rest of the game. So we have to find the balance of strong energy throughout the entire game.”
Andover will use its positive momentum to take on St. Paul’s this Saturday.
