Forward Jazzy Cormier ’24 rushes upfield, evading Worcester’s defense.
Andover Girls Soccer suffered its first two losses of the season against Loomis Chaffee(Loomis) on Saturday and Worcester Academy (Worcester) on Wednesday. Falling to Loomis 1-7 and Worcester, 0-3, the team now stands at a record of 2-2-1.
According to Sarah Powers ’26, the one bit of hope came against Loomis was when Emily Mara ’25 put Andover on the scoreboard. Powers complimented Mara’s spirit and energy during the play.
Powers said, “One highlight of the game was Emily Mara’s goal. Somebody kicked it up to Emily Mara and Emily took it to herself to the net and three people were on her and then she just like slid and then just kicked the ball and it went in…. She really worked hard and got to the net and then just made a diving kick into the net so I feel like that was a great play.”
Despite the two losses, it is early in the season, attested Co-Captain Kelly Bu ’23 added that Head Coach Lisa Joel has provided some inspiration for the upcoming games.
Bu said, “With these games it gets really intense and I think that the biggest thing that Lisa tells us to do and that we tell each other to do is to always bring each other up and to always try to be positive, and sometimes its really hard because you’re like, ‘oh my god they’re making mistakes left and right’ which is really difficult, but at the same time I think the idea is trusting each other, believing in each other, and supporting each other. I think our motto, ‘whatever it takes,’ really drives…. It’s not one person versus 11. The game of soccer is a team of 11 people. You can’t do it by yourself and you have to have that faith in each other.”
According to Myranda Lu ’23, the team was forced to snap into the game due to a delayed arrival. Because of the lengthy bus ride and traffic traffic complications, the team had a shortened warm up period.
Lu said, “I do think the rushed warm up we had because of the traffic on the bus did contribute to our unreadiness I guess for the game. Half of our team got lost in Loomis which was honestly kind of funny and there were like three of us on the field ready to warm up. It was very rushed but I think we did get our head in the game real quick because we realized we had very limited time.”
Bu noted that the team was able to regroup during halftime of the Worcester game and post a shutout in the second half. However, an absence of offensive production halted any comeback.
Bu said, “Even though we came with a loss, we were really able to connect during halftime, regroup, and organize ourselves in a way that like, we knew we were down, but we also knew that it could go even worse because last year we lost to Worcester 5-0 and they could definitely go, 5-0, 6-0, 7-0. So we were trying to regroup at halftime and really lock into the game and then in the second half we played so much better. It ended up being [3-0] which means they only scored the first three in the first half, so in that second half we were able to shut them down.”
Andover Girls Soccer will host Tabor Academy this Saturday.
