Emily Mara ’23 battles for control of the puck.
Marie-Eve Marleau ’22 and Gretchen Swartz ’23 attack the net two one one.
With zero points on the board and a goal deficit of one at the start of the third period, Andover Girls Hockey proceeded to score three goals in two minutes to win 3-1 against Worcester Academy (Worcester) on Saturday. Deanna Buenzow ’23 initiated the three goal streak with a goal off a powerplay, and finishes by Gwyn Lapp ’22 and Co-Captain Rachel Neyman ’22 gave Andover the lead shortly after. However, the team fell short in a 0-1 loss to Loomis on Wednesday.
According to Lexi Secreto ’22, the team was dominating throughout the entire game against Worcester even though they struggled to find the back of the net. She noticed that it was one of the team’s highest shooting games.
“We were actually dominating the whole game. We just needed to work on our communication and just more connecting and finishing. We were able to get shots on them, but just being able to capitalize on our opportunities was what we were really focusing on,” said Secreto.
Just 30 seconds into the game, Worcester scored its first and only goal. Despite Worcester’s initial lead, the team maintained control of the game, according to Annabel Curry ’25.
“I think we definitely had strengths in keeping possession, not getting super frazzled, and just staying calm,” said Curry.
The team was not used to trailing behind their opponents for the majority of the game. However, their two-game losing streak and the proximity of playoffs served as a motivation to stay in the game, according to Buenzow
“I think we started off flat and Worcester took advantage of that in the first shift. We haven’t really played from behind all season, and when we have, we normally score right away. However, this wasn’t the case, as we played from behind pretty much the entire game. We all wanted to break our two-game losing streak to help our seeding for playoffs,” wrote Buenzow in an email to The Phillipian.
Leading up to Worcester, the team focused on taking full advantage of special teams in practice. This was evident during the powerplay in Saturday’s game, according to Secreto.
“In practice, we worked a lot on our special teams, like power play and penalty kill…We have the chemistry, we have what it takes to be a good team in regular play, but when it comes to special situations, you’re not going to always be able to control whether or not you get a penalty or you get a man or you’re on the power play. The little factors can take a game either way,” said Secreto.
Going into Wednesday, the team understood that Loomis would be one of their toughest opponents this season, but they prepared as usual. The team maintained a competitive and resilient mindset, according to Keira Harder ’23.
“Loomis is a really tough competitor, and I think as a team we realize that. We’re really looking forward to playing at such a high level. In practice, we’ve been trying to implement more competitions between the blue and the white team, which has been great,” said Harder.
Andover Girls Hockey will be hosting Phillips Exeter Academy on Saturday at 12:00 p.m.
