In a one-on-one offensive drive, Cory McCormack ’21 secured the disc mid-air to score a point and aid in Andover Ultimate’s victory over Andover High in a scrimmage. The team fell short to St. John’s Prep and later lost to Concord-Carlisle with a score of 9-12 and 6-15, respectively. Andover’s record now stands at 1-4.
Its scrimmage against Andover High allowed Andover an opportunity to hone its skills and work around team injuries, according to Jeffrey Kao ’19.
“It was a good match for the team to tune up as we enter the part of the season where we go to tournaments. We have a lot of new players this season, especially a lot that came up from JV. Given that quite a few of our returning Varsity players have been injured, it has been nice to give a lot of our newer members the chance to improve and learn to read the game better,” said Kao.
In contrast to the team’s performance in its scrimmage, Andover was not able to get into a rhythm against the Prep, according to Lucas Kim ’21.
“We stuck with [the Prep] in the beginning all the way through half-time, but after that we just couldn’t keep up with them. In that game, we had a lot of players missing due to injury which didn’t allow us to have as many substitutions, so we got more tired,” said Kim
With a majority of the team’s returning players injured, the game provided a chance for new players to gain more playing experience against tougher competition, according to Sebastian Romero ’20.
“It has been a challenge to us mainly because majority of the players that are injured are the more experienced players. I think it has been simultaneously beneficial and negative. A lot of the new players are getting to play so they get experience, yet at the same time they are inexperienced, so we don’t get to play as well as we would usually like to,” said Romero.
This past Wednesday, Andover faced Concord-Carlisle and despite losing, the team’s efforts culminated into a strong team performance, according to Romero.
Romero said, “I think it was one of the best games we played all season. Everything that we had been practicing and everything our coaches had been telling us really came together and we, as a team, really got the flow going.”
With its first tournament this Sunday, the team hopes to carry over the momentum from practice and its performance on Wednesday, according to Romero.
“We want to work on making sure that we keep the disc moving and increase our movement and mobility. I really think we all just need to continue working hard. We already have a tight bond as a team which helps us when playing and so we just want to keep that going.” said Romero.
Andover Ultimate will compete in the New England Ultimate Spring Tune-Up Tournament this Sunday.
