In overtime, Carly Kreytak ’20 scored to secure a close 2-1 Andover victory over Noble and Greenough this Wednesday. Andover was also scheduled to play Deerfield this Saturday, but the game was cancelled due to inclement weather. The team’s record now stands at 12-0.
Conscious of Nobles’ regularly strong team, Andover entered Wednesday’s game prepared for a close game, according to Brooke Keough ’19.
“Nobles every year is one of our strongest, hardest games; there’s a couple [teams] each year we know are gonna be tough, so going into this game, our practices have been tough the last couple days [in order to] prepare for this game. Also playoffs are approaching so we really want to do well in that [sense].”
In the first ten minutes into the the game, Nobles scored, putting Andover down for the first time this season. Andover finished out the first half remaining down 0-1.
Despite struggling to gain momentum after Andover’s flat start, the team mounted a strong comeback as the game went on, according to Keough.
Keough said, “We started off kinda slow but throughout the second part of the first half, we got really much better and then in the second half we were really strong.”
In the second half, Marisol Nugent ’20 scored to tie the game 1-1. According to Katie Wimmer ’21, Andover channeled its team spirit in order to recover from the one point deficit.
Wimmer said, “I think the team was really enthusiastic and motivated because we were down by one and [we] really, got excited to score another goal so it was out of enthusiasm and energy.”
After the regular time finished, the teams were forced into overtime play where, after six minutes, Kreytak capitalized on an offensive opportunity and scored to secure Andover’s win. In overtime, Andover displayed strong passing skills that ultimately led to the team’s victory, according to Wimmer.
Wimmer said, “I think we were really good at passing and getting open cause we practiced that and we were really good at passing to open space and working together to get the ball down the field.”
According to Emily Batchelor ’19, Andover’s victory can be attributed to its resilience and ability to adjust to the challenges which arose throughout the game.
Batchelor said, “Nobles was a very fast team and [it] had this one player that would take [the ball] down the entire side line, and that was kinda hard for us in the beginning because we weren’t really used to that, [but] then as the game went on we adjusted. We were all getting back on defense better and we were able to stop [the] fast rushes which they got a lot of in the beginning. But I think as the game went on we adjusted well and were able to shut that down so we had more offensive chances.”
Saturday’s match up against Deerfield and its 10-1 record was highly anticipated by Andover, according to Keough.
“[Even though] Deerfield ended up being cancelled, we were preparing a lot for that game because [Deerfield] was our only loss last year in regular season.”
With this unexpected cancellation, Andover received a break from playing on Sunday. The date of Andover’s rematch against Deerfield is yet to be announced, but Andover’s next regular game will be an away game against Cushing on Saturday.
