Brooke Keough ’19 received the puck in the high slot and quickly shot it into the top corner of the net past Andover High School’s goalie. Andover beat Andover High 6-1 in the scrimmage on Saturday and took down Winchendon 5-2 on Wednesday to start the season with a 2-0 record. The team hopes to take this season to improve from last year’s winning record of 13-9.
In its game against Andover High, the team dominated with hard work and energetic play.
Lilly Feeney ’20 said, “The team really pulled together. I think the whole team was very hyped for the start of the season and came out very focused. Everyone hustled throughout the whole game, which is why we dominated as much as we did. Andover High had a strong effort and competed hard, but in the end we were just more talented.”
According to Co-Captain Charlotte Welch ’18, the scrimmage was especially useful in showing the team what aspects of their game they needed to improve.
Welch said, “The game was a great indicator of what we need to work on for the rest of the season. We will especially work on our endurance, producing offensive support in the defensive zone, and quickening our transitions to catch the opponent off guard.”
In the end, Andover played to its strengths and successfully executed its practice plan, while encouragement from the sidelines played a large role in keeping high energy on the ice.
Kelly McCarthy ’19 said, “We did a good job of executing our forecheck in Saturday’s game. [Head] Coach [Martha] Fenton [’83] explained how she wanted us to pressure the other team in our offensive zone, and I think all of the lines did a great job of putting this strategy into play on Saturday. The encouragement and cheers from the bench also helped sustain our energy throughout.”
Later in the week against Winchendon, Andover felt prepared for its first regular season game and was able to overcome its nerves. The scrimmage gave the team a chance to play with its new members before its first major test of the season.
“The team is very strong this year; our whole bench has a lot of talent and potential to make an impact. Returners are still trying to get used to playing with each other again as well as get used to playing with our new teammates. Our tradition of starting off with Andover High prepared us for our first real game on Wednesday,” said Feeney.
Though Andover finished with a convincing 5-2 victory, there remains room to improve, according to Coach Fenton.
“We will need to be more disciplined in our defensive zone and in the neutral zone, and we will need to work a good bit on our power play and penalty kill,” said Coach Fenton.
Andover will play Southfield away this Friday.
