Lizzie Gilmartin ’22 joined Varsity Field Hockey her Lower year after playing at the Junior-Varsity level last season.
Andover held possession during most of the game, which allowed the team to try out new combinations and plays, according to Olivia Nolan ’20 and Kiera Suh ’22.
Nolan said, “I thought we had a strong performance against Choate. They definitely weren’t one of the strongest teams we had seen all season, but I thought we had a lot of great contributions from everyone on the team and everyone played a part in the win so that was awesome to see.”
“I think we got to try out a few different corner plays, so that was exciting because we had a lot of opportunities to work on things we were working on in practice, but hadn’t gotten the opportunity to do in games yet,” said Suh.
On Tuesday, Andover also went on to defeat Milton 4-3 in a tightly contested match, advancing its record to 7-1.
Against Milton, Andover let up three straight goals after leading 2-0 at the half, but was able to tie the game up, leading to an overtime victory.
The team was able to utilize key takeaways from its previous matches and apply them against Milton, according to Suh.
“I think in this game we were able to combine what we learned from Tabor, which was energy and efficiency, and combine that with what we learned at Choate, which was being able to execute properly. It ended up turning out well for us, but we fought really hard,” said Suh.
Despite winning three in a row, the team looks to continue working on its ball movement, shot-taking, and conditioning, according to Nolan and Ellie Harrison ’22.
Nolan said, “We always work on conditioning because our [Head Coach] Kate Dolan always says the faster team wins. I definitely want to see us keep pushing ourselves in terms of how crisp we make our passes, how well we can play defense, and I’d say also just getting some more shots on net because that is something we have struggled with in games against some of the tougher teams.”
“Finishing in the circle is an area that we would work on because we have had a lot of opportunities but we need to just get the ball into the back of the net,” said Harrison.
According to Isabelle Brown ’23, a big part of the team’s performance has been centered around its cohesiveness, especially in regard to its new players.
Brown said, “As a new player, all the returners have made everyone feel so welcome. When I came, I was very nervous, but they were all so nice and welcoming. Our team spirit is great and we just give it our all every single time and we work for each other.”
Andover will next face St. Paul’s away this Saturday.
