Trailing Deerfield 17-13 late into the second half, Katherine McIntire ’19 buried the ball into the bottom left corner of the net off of an 8-Meter free position shot. This goal narrowed the gap to just three goals, yet Andover was unable to surpass Deerfield, ultimately falling 17-14 in its home opener. Last Saturday, Andover traveled to play Nobles in its first game of the season and lost 16-2. Andover’s record now stands at 0-2 on the season.
Against Deerfield, Andover started off strong and the first half consisted of back and forth play, with each team trading goals. With the game tied at 4-4 in the first half, Andover found a burst of energy, scoring five unanswered goals in just six minutes to take a 9-4 lead. Towards the end of the first half, Deerfield scored four goals in a row, and the half ultimately ended with Andover leading 11-10.
Throughout the second half, Deerfield’s momentum grew, as it outscored Andover 7-3, and came out with a 17-14 win.
Co-Captain Jordy Fenton ’17 said, “Today was an improvement from last game. We came out strong and played with more intensity. Deerfield came back at us at the beginning of the second half and knocked us back a bit. But we held our ground and kept it to a close game.”
According to McIntire, Andover was able to improve on aspects of its game that were lacking against Nobles, including implementing offensive strategies worked on in practices leading up to the game against Deerfield.
McIntire said, “The best part of our game today was that we started to find our identity on offense. After the game against Nobles we changed the way that we were practicing this week and spent a lot of time on playing a more fluid team offense, which brought us a lot of success today against another strong team.”
Although Andover made strides in the right direction, players on the team say that there are still parts of its game that it looks to improve on, including draw controls and maintaining possession.
McIntire said, “I think what lead to the loss was that they were able to get possession of the ball coming out of halftime when we were up by one and get a few quick goals, and we were just unable to close three point lead throughout the second half. Moving forward, we’ll try to continue to improve our motion offense, and one thing to work on would just be getting possession of the ball, particularly on ground balls.”
The team looks to continue its upward momentum throughout the season.
Co-Captain Courtney Masotti ’17 said, “I think the game today was a great example of how well we are capable of playing, despite the outcome. We had some moments of great transitional play and both huge defensive stops as well as poised and patient attack.”
“Looking forward we’re trying to maintain the intensity and effort of today’s game and work on the areas where we can convert more shots into goals. Also keep possession especially after a win on the defensive end,” Masotti continued.
On Saturday, Andover played a relentless Nobles team, who capitalized on Andover’s frequent mistakes.
Fenton said, “Nobles was a tough opponent, we knew going into it that it would a challenge game. As a whole we are trying to work on our intensity, energy and focus. If we can pick those up, then I think our season will change around.”
Players on the team noticed that the energy was higher during the Deerfield game and it hopes to build upon this when the team travels to Pingree this Saturday.
