Abbey Otterbein PG ’19, pictured above in last week’s game against Middlesex, assisted Anna Bargman ’21 in Andover’s first goal against NMH on Saturday.
Anna Bargman ’21 tipped the ball into the top right corner of the net, scoring Andover’s first goal against Northfield Mount Hermon (NMH). Andover went on to blank NMH in a 4-0 victory and then added another shutout win over BB&N on Wednesday. With these victories, Andover remains undefeated on the year with a record of 11-0.
In Saturday’s game against NMH, Andover held possession for the majority of the game. According to Lily Rademacher ’21 and Rachel Neyman ’22, the team coordinated connections and communicated clearly.
Rademacher said, “In the second half of the game, it really felt like we fully connected as a team. Passes were really deliberate and we made a lot of smart plays that were really teamwork-oriented.”
Rademacher continued, “I think that how we help each other is the reason we are doing so well in our season so far. On the field and off the field, we’re a team that prides itself on supporting each other and being completely positive and loving environments.”
“We communicated well and let each other know where to go or where an open player is. In the second half we had great ball movement and made great passes. And we just cheered each other on from the field and sidelines,” said Neyman.
Throughout the game, Andover dominated and the majority of possession was in the offensive half, according to Rademacher.
“We were easily the dominant team. I don’t think they even got a shot off, and we had no defensive corners. We were able to stay on the offensive for almost the entire game, and if it did go to them, we did a really nice job blocking up their free hits,” said Rademacher.
In Wednesday’s game, Andover faced and defeated BB&N. According to Captain Meghan Ward ’19, BB&N challenged Andover with tough competition, but didn’t display as much skill.
Ward said, “It was a back and forth game, but overall we controlled the game. BB&N played more physically than with finesse, so we tried to spread the field and pass around them.”
Although Andover is still undefeated, there are still areas where the team can improve. According to Head Coach Kate Dolan, Andover needs to work on maintaining smart possessions from Wednesday’s game.
Dolan said, “At other times in the game we had difficulty retaining possession, making smart decisions with or without the ball and we definitely should have had more shots/possessions inside our opponent’s 25-yard line.”
According the Neyman, having higher accuracy on hits would also strengthen their offensive line.
Neyman said, “We could improve on our free hits — offense needs to get open better and the person hitting the ball tends to hit it right to the other team’s stick.”
The team will play Deerfield at home this Saturday.
