Andover Girls Hockey’s next two games are both away from home as they will face off against BB&N and Tabor.
Andover Girls Hockey’s 1-0 victory over St. Mark’s marked its second shut-out of the season.
In an intense overtime thriller vs St. Mark’s, Andover Girls Hockey narrowly avoided its 4th tie of the season. Andover pulled away with a 1-0 win, with Lulu Rourke ’23 scoring the game winner in overtime, and goaltender Lexi Secreto ’22 having a shutout in net. Its record now stands at 5-0-3 on the season.
According to Anne Averill ’23, despite the close final score, the game was very one sided. She believes that the team simply could not capitalize on its opportunities and utilize its skill effectively.
Averill said, “I feel like it was a little flat. We didn’t have many fans. We were consistently working hard, but nothing crazy. Also our shots weren’t very good. They were mostly on the ice or in the goalie’s chest. We ended up outshooting them 42-10, so it was kind of a weird game of consistent effort, but not many ups or downs.”
Rourke notes that at the beginning, the energy levels were low, but they improved over the course of the game. She also acknowledges the team’s joy as it pulled through with the win as finishing the game strong has needed improvement.
Rourke said, “People were pretty frustrated at the beginning because it was 0-0, but by the end it was exciting to finally win in overtime, because we have had a lot of ties in overtime.”
Andover’s fluctuating energy during the game proved to be a challenge to overcome, but Andover persisted and was relieved to finally win in overtime.
Averill said, “I think a challenge we definitely faced was maintaining our effort even though we weren’t scoring or executing on our chances. At some points in the game it felt like we could almost give up, but we didn’t. Especially when we went into overtime in a game we were supposed to win was a little deflating. But we were able to come out with a win, and we had already tied twice before, so it was nice to finally get a win.”
It has been a recurring theme for Andover to generate plenty of shots, but not be able to put any in the back of the net. According to Coach Martha Fenton, Andover has been working on its scoring prowess in the last few weeks of practice.
Coach Fenton said, “We have been working hard on finishing…we are generating a lot of shots, 1, 2, 3 in the last 3 games to be exact, but not finding the back of the net. While we worked hard for another 3 periods without a goal, it was great to see Lulu drive home a rebound in overtime to get the win.”
Even as the team dealt with injuries, many players stepped up to the challenge and came through when the team needed to make adjustments.
Rourke said, “I’d like to give a shoutout to Molly Boyle, because she had to play a position she doesn’t play and got switched to a different line.”
“Losing Gwyn Lapp ’22 on Friday night to a broken wrist during the Brooks game is definitely a major adjustment for us, and we were playing with a few changes in the line-up as a result. I thought the team responded really well, however, and lots of kids stepped up to the opportunity,” added Coach Fenton
Andover seeks to continue its undefeated season on Friday at BB&N.
