Andover Boys Lacrosse
emphasised transition of the ball
in its play this weekend.
While scoring first and putting together an impressive performance in the first half, fatigue proved to be fatal as Andover Boys Lacrosse conceded 11 goals in the second half, leading to a 4-15 defeat this past Saturday. Andover now stands with a 1-1-0 record.
According to Aidan Fenton ’23, the team headed into the game hoping to overturn the expected outcomes and impress against a highly competitive team.
“We had a saying, ‘It’s family vs. factory,’ because Deerfield has been a factory for Division I athletes, so we came into the game knowing that we were the underdog and we had a craving to prove to everybody that we could compete,” said Fenton.
According to Peter Elliott ’24, although the first half was filled with encouraging play, the second half performance was difficult to watch. Despite the loss, Elliott views the game as a learning experience for the future and an opportunity for further growth.
“It was a really close game for a long time, and that just showed that we have the potential [to keep up] with those high level teams, and that was promising, but it was definitely disappointing to see us go out like that. It was a tough second half, but we liked a lot of stuff that we saw, and I think we learned a lot from it and it’s going to really help us going forward,” said Elliott.
Andover Boys Lacrosse Head Coach James Beaudoin said that a major factor in the second half performance was continuously losing face-offs.
“In the third quarter they kept winning face-offs and I think that’s where they got about a seven-goal run on us; they’d score and win the face-off. I think their coaching staff realized where some holes were that they could capitalize on, and that was pretty much it; we couldn’t get the face-off and they just kept doing what they wanted to for a seven-goal run,” said Beaudoin.
According to Fenton, another issue in the loss was turning the ball over, which led to a worn-out defense by the end of the game.
“In that game because we were getting really tired because we kept on turning the ball over, it would’ve been helpful to slow it down and possess the ball and give our defense a break after we [force] a turnover, but we really needed to push because we were down so many goals and we had so little time left. So that game we definitely had to push, but in previous games we could kind of slow it down and give our defense a break,” said Fenton.
Despite the final score of the game, Coach Beaudoin felt that the team was beginning to foster effective communication with one another on the field during the game.
“I feel like they’re all getting into the rhythm and understanding what the [coaching] staff is asking of them, and you felt that in the first half, where the kids were really communicating well and bringing their ideas to the group, that [the] motivation was there and [the] understanding [of] what our strengths are and what our weaknesses are,” said Coach Beaudoin.
Andover hopes to return to the winning column this upcoming Saturday at home against Worcester Academy.
