Andover will look to continue its impressive attacking play againt Hotchkiss.
With just minutes left on the clock and a big point gap, Andover Girls Lacrosse continued to hustle, taking any given chance for offense. After playing five scrimmages hosted by Lincoln Sudbury on Sunday, Andover Girls Lacrosse cruised through a 20-3 win against Austin Prep. This was the team’s first match, and first win of the 2022 season. Andover’s record now stands at 1-0.
Prior to the season openers, the team went on a spring break trip to Nevada. Lauren Herlihy ’25 explains that the trip allowed for the team to bond on and off the field, and the newly-forged chemistry contributed to victory on the field.
“I feel like it really let everyone bond and get closer together and I feel like the bond and the teamwork really makes a big difference on the field,” said Herlihy.
Grace Hammond ’23 said, “I think the lacrosse trip really helped solidify our team atmosphere and culture. It was great to meet new players and get to know everyone in the entire lacrosse program. I made a lot of friends on that trip that I really enjoy hanging out with outside of practice.”
According to Hammond, a crucial aspect in Andover’s victory against Austin Prep was the team’s aggressiveness.
“When there were turnovers, we worked really hard to get the ball back through hard rides and came up with every ground ball,” said Hammond.
Hammond highlighted Kate McCool ’23 in the scrimmages and against Austin Prep as a leader in defense.
“She is a lockdown defender who we can always count on [to] have great slides. She ran a bunch of midfields today and scored two goals, which I was super super excited about,” said Hammond.
In addition, Coach Ware identifies captains Emily Smith ’22 and Victoria Rider ’22 as great leaders on the field, serving as voices to help their fellow teammates gather confidence to execute plays that the team has not had the chance to practice yet.
“Tori and Emily did a great job kind of dictating the play and helping everybody figure out what we are doing because we haven’t had a chance to practice them too much in practice yet,” said Coach Ware.
Coach Ware was also excited to see how the team was able to come together from the very beginning in their full length game.
“[Today’s game] was really exciting to be able to see how our team came together in a full length game. It was really nice to see… how deep our bench is. Everybody played and everybody contributed significantly and we were able to really try people out in a lot of different positions and we have so much depth on our bench. It’s really amazing,” said Coach Ware.
Coach Ware emphasizes that the number of talented players in the program this year has also forged a strong JV team with lots of promising players. This, she says, gives the team a sense of confidence and security.
“So we have a big team this year full of tremendous talent and we didn’t have room for all the talent in the program because there are a lot of really strong girls on the JV team, too. But by depth on the bench, I mean that we can only start twelve girls, right? Eleven field players and the goalie and anyone we sub in, we have full confidence in the depth of talent on our team is amazing. Meaning, like, every single girl, whether they’re starters or they go in off the bench, they bring so much to the game and they have so much talent,” said Coach Ware.
Coach Ware believes that beating Austin Prep has allowed for the team to get prepared for their big game on Saturday against Hotchkiss.
“I think my biggest takeaway from today’s game is that every single player on our team contributes when they step on the field and everybody has full faith in each other. Like our teammates have full faith in each other that they know whoever’s coming out is going to be able to make an impact” said Coach Ware.
Herlihy and Hammond both expressed their wishes for their game against Hotchkiss. Herlihy hopes that the team would maintain its high level of offense by utilizing strong cuts and leveling up on its communication. Similarly, Hammond expressed exhilaration and desire to maintain aggression and possession in play.
“My hope for Saturday’s game is to keep up our aggressiveness, bring the energy, and hustle a ton. I am super excited for us to work super hard against Hotchkiss,” said Hammond.
Andover looks to extend its winning streak as it welcomes Hotchkiss on its field on Saturday.
