Fifteen seconds into overtime, Co-Captain Charlotte Welch ’18 won a face off, Lilly Feeney ’20 secured the puck, and Anna Bargman ’21 shot it into the back of the net off of a pass. The overtime goal won Andover’s game against BB&N with a score of 4-3. Andover Girls Hockey played and won four games this week against Northfield Mount Hermon (NMH), St. Marks, BB&N, and Cushing. The team’s record now stands at 9-3.
Head Coach Martha Fenton said, “With three wins in four days, I think our team demonstrated that we can play at a consistently high level and that we have the depth and skill to compete with anybody. We have three very strong goalies who each picked up a win, and our scoring has been distributed pretty evenly all season. We still need to work on being patient with the puck to maintain possession and create quality scoring chances.”
In its match against BB&N on Monday, Andover initially started off strong, but gave up three goals after the first period and the game went into overtime. However, its endurance and determination gave them a victory at the end of the day, according to Co-Captain Sarah Rigazio ’18.
“[On Monday] we got a three-nothing lead after the first period, which is great; we had a lot of energy and momentum. One of our goals for the year was to start off as strong as we can because we’ve had a tendency to wait until the second or third period to play our best, but we started off really strong,” said Rigazio.
The team will continue to work on their passing and defense, according to Molly MacQueen ’21.
“I think we’ve been using our speed and moving the path. [We’ve been] connecting well and using our strengths to get ahead in games. We need to continue strengthening our speed and connecting passes, and working on our forechecks and our different systems. But, I think we’ve improved a lot lately,” said MacQueen.
Rigazio said, “Our coaches have been emphasizing using the defense a lot and our passing sequences, and I think that we did a really good job of implementing that into our game yesterday. I thought that we did a good job of taking the right shot and not taking unnecessary bad angle shots.”
The captains’ strong leadership has been a crucial part of the team’s success this season, according to MacQueen.
MacQueen said, “I think we have a really strong team dynamic; we have really great leadership from both of our captains. I think that really pushes everyone to work super hard, not just on the ice, but as a player and a teammate, and being on our bench is really special. It’s just a super supportive and exciting place to be.”
With tough opponents lined up on its schedule, Andover looks to continue playing with the same effort each game, according to MacQueen.
“Our hopes are to keep gaining wins and strong games, and we have a pretty tough schedule coming up. So [we’ll] take it one game at a time but try and play like every game counts to really make our record as strong as possible,” said MacQueen.
Andover will face off against Deerfield this Saturday.
