Charlie Ferguson ’23 (pictured above) is Andover’s leading goal scorer this season with nine goals.
Liam Hall PG’21, Wesley Maloney ’22, and Charlie Ferguson ’23 each scored five goals and combined for a total of 11 assists in Andover’s dominant 21-10 victory against Worcester Academy on Sunday. The team’s record now stands at 2-1. After falling to Deerfield Academy last weekend, the team headed into Sunday’s matchup against Worcester having improved specific areas of its game.
According to Ben Garozzo ’23, the hard work the team put in at practice this past week translated to success on the field.
Garozzo said, “I think Deerfield was a really hard opponent. If you check Inside Lacrosse, they’re ranked number two in the country. So coming off that, I think we learned a lot, especially because we were really challenged by them, and I think we realized how much work we need to put in… We definitely worked on [our] off ball pressure … our two-man game, [and] our pick game. It showed because we had good defense against Worcester [and] we were able to stop them on a lot of opportunities that they [had] just based on the pressure we gave them. I think the biggest thing was staying alert on defense which we were able to do.”
Outscoring Worcester by 11 goals, the team excelled both offensively and defensively and found success in areas of its game which were previously lacking. According to Head Coach James Beaudoin, quick transitions and caused turnovers moved plays forward and resulted in strong finishes from the attackmen.
Coach Beaudoin said, “I think our starting offense, especially our starting attackmen for the day, I think they each got five goals. So I think a lot of that came off transition, whether it be a faceoff win, this was our first game where we actually won the majority of our faceoffs, or clearing from a goalie save or a caused turnover, I think we had 14 caused turnovers. A lot of that translated into goals from our attackmen who were just burying the ball at its final leg of the journey, but through three, four, five different sticks before it got there. So that was a pretty great accomplishment that we were finishing through the guys up the field with some pretty quick transition.”
According to Jack Pearlson ’23, the team benefited from the experiences of its upperclassmen and its high energy levels maintained throughout the game.
Pearlson said, “I think that we definitely benefited from the experience of having our Seniors and Uppers who have played for so long in high school. They also had a lighter bench, so they didn’t have as many players to rotate in and out. But I think we were able to keep our energy up the entire game, and we were able to show that spark that we weren’t able to show in the second half of that Deerfield game. We just wanted to come out and just put them in the dirt early, just make sure that we weren’t going to lose that game because we all really wanted it for each other, our coach, and for everyone else. I’d say that our biggest advantage was just our energy levels and valuing the ball, and just wanting it just as much as we wanted anything before.”
Looking ahead, the team looks to maintain its composure in-game and train well at practice in preparation for a strong Pingree team, according to Pearlson.
“Pingree is a very good team, they recruit pretty heavily from middle schools and clubs in the area, so they’re very good. And also, our coaches let us know that they pressure the ball really heavily, which means that if you carry the ball outside away from the goal, they’ll still have a guy on you. So I think in preparation for that, we’re just going to have to get used to being able to run away from pressure pretty quickly and moving the ball and just staying composed on offense. And then we’ll have to shut them down on defense too. I mean the best offense is a good defense, so I think we’re preparing for a dogfight, and we’re ready to take them on,” said Pearlson.
Andover will look to carry its offensive dominance into its next matchup against Pingree at home on Friday.
