Off of an assist from Kylie Quinlan ’20, Anna Bargman ’21 shot the puck into the top-left corner. Bargman’s goal propelled Andover Girls Hockey to a 3-1 victory over Southfield on Friday. The team’s game on Saturday against Northfield Mount Hermon (NMH) was canceled due to hazardous road conditions. The team record is now 2-0 in the regular season.
Against Southfield, Andover stayed in control even with several starters absent, according to Maddy Silveira ’20.
Silveira said, “We played really well against Southfield on Friday. Everyone was putting forth their full effort. We were missing players Elizabeth Welch ’18 and Meghan Ward ’19, so a number of people had to play different positions than they were used to.”
Ashley Tucker ’18 added, “We generated a lot of offensive zone time and pressure, and though their goalie played well, we probably could have scored more than three goals with the amount of chances we had, especially because we dominated the game.”
Despite Andover’s penalties keeping the team a player down for a large portion of the game, its possessions ended up being instrumental to its success.
Elizabeth Holubiak ’18 said, “Everyone was working really hard, and that showed in all of the penalties we drew. Our puck possession was good throughout the game, and we had a lot of offensive power in their zone.”
Ward said, “We did a really good job with puck possession. There were a lot of penalties from both teams throughout the game, but we did a really nice job denying Southfield the chance to set up their power play when we were on penalty kill.”
Although Southfield is one of the weaker teams Andover will face this season, they did well at staying in the game and keeping the energy up, according to Silveira.
Silveira said, “Southfield didn’t give up the entire game and provided a good battle, particularly towards the very end of the game when we started to get some penalties. [However], we were a more skilled team.”
Ward said, “To give them credit, Southfield are definitely the strongest group the team has had in the past few years, but we played a very solid game and controlled most of the play.”
Despite earning a solid victory, Andover’s game against Southfield exposed some weaknesses that the team can improve upon, according to Holubiak.
“Especially in power play situations, the team can use work on getting more high quality shots on net with girls ready to pick up rebounds. Additionally, we can simplify our game and make the easier, not-so-risky plays,” said Holubiak.
Ward added, “We were unable to capitalize on many opportunities, which is definitely a part of our team’s game that we hope to improve. Looking ahead into January, we play a very tough schedule where games often come down to moments on the power play and penalty kill.”
Andover will face off against Lawrenceville and Taft away on Thursday and will end the week with a game at Loomis Chaffee on Friday.
