Going up 2-0 against Deerfield on Wednesday, Andover Boys Hockey allowed three unanswered goals and eventually lost 3-2 with ten seconds left in overtime. Andover also lost to Loomis Chaffee 4-1 on Saturday, putting the team’s record at 7-12 for the season.
After allowing two goals in the first 12 minutes of its game against Loomis, the team is looking to work on its defensive strategy, according to Will Hughes ’22 and Patrick Last ’22.
“One thing we want to work on from that game is picking up our guys in the defensive zone, because that’s how a couple of their goals were scored,” said Hughes.
Last added, “I think we really need to work on our neutral zone and better changes definitely, because we made some poor changeups which led to goals. And our defensive zone, we need to pick up our guys.”
In the second period, forward Colin Marks PG’20 cut the lead in half with a power-play goal. However, Andover was unable to keep up the momentum.
Leading up to Wednesday’s game, the team felt confident after narrowly losing to Deerfield in a well-matched game in December, according to Hughes.
“We played [Deerfield] earlier in the Christmas tournament, and it was a good matchup,” said Hughes.
Despite its recent losses, the team still maintains a strong team bond which helps it push through, according to Last.
Last said, “Our biggest strength is that we’re really starting to work as a team together very well. The teamwork that we have going on and the faith we have in each other is very good.”
Andover will travel to Belmont Hill for its next game on Friday.
