Being guarded by two defenders on the crease, Lizzy Gilmartin ’22 bounced the ball past the opposing goalie for one of the team’s ten goals in its 10-7 win over Dexter Southfield. In its next two games, against Pingree and St. Paul’s, the team lost 15-7 and 8-6. The team’s record now sits at 2-5.
Against Dexter Southfield, Andover succeeded at draw controls, and that success carried over to its game against Pingree according to Sophia Merageas ’20.
“[Co-Captain] Katherine McIntire ’19 has been excellent on the draws this season and Saturday against Pingree was no exception. While Katherine and the midfielders did a good job at center field controlling the draws, Pingree was very tenacious and gradually gained ball control. Overall, we learned the importance of gaining and maintaining draw control,” Merageas wrote in an email to The Phillipian.
Co-Captain Jo Caico ’19 added, “Pingree was a talented team and they really caught us off guard considering we beat them by at least 16 points last year. They beat us to all the balls, they scored more, and they honestly just had a bit more heart.”
Against an undefeated St. Paul’s team, Andover got off to a strong start, according to Lilly Feeney ’20.
“We were all very excited to play today so we all came out fired up and on our game. We started out the game with two or three quick goals which set us up to play well for the rest of the game,” wrote Feeney in an email to The Phillipian.
Despite St. Paul’s averaging about 16 goals per game, Andover was able to limit its offense to only eight, the fewest number of goals that St. Paul’s has scored this season.
Merageas said, “The defense were strong all game and transitioned up the field very well. We recently adopted a new form of defense and they executed this with grace in the game.”
Andover’s defensive was anchored by goalie Kennedy Everson ’21 who made more than 25 saves, according to Feeney.
Andover has struggled with maintaining possession of the ball after defensive stops so far this season, an error that continued against St. Pauls. St. Paul’s defense was able to pressure Andover into turning the ball over often according to Rachel Neyman ’22.
Andover will it faces Groton this Saturday.
