Andover Boys Water Polo split its double header on Saturday with a 5-10 loss against Deerfield and 12-5 win against Westminster. The two games held at home brought the team’s record to 1-3.
Even though the games were only three hours apart, the team managed to raise their morale and properly recover for the second game of the day. Jeffrey Lim ’27 talked about how communication was a major issue against Deerfield, which was solved before the Westminster game.
“Teamwork…played a major part in the Westminster game. Deerfield opened up our eyes that we didn’t have the communication and teamwork skills that we needed. And after a short break, we were able to fix these issues and be able to communicate better, which ultimately led to winning the Westminster game,” said Lim.
Sean Niu ’25 shared similar sentiments to Lim. Although Deerfield was a strong team, Andover was proud of how they fared out despite the loss.
“Deerfield was one of the strongest teams in our league, and we were quite close to beating them, if we maintained our focus. When Deerfield blew out Westminster, our hopes came up and we ended up winning,” said Niu.
The win against Westminster would not have been possible without the help of some crucial players, according to Niu. These players contributed to the team morale and strength on both sides of the pool.
“Ashton Ma ’24 played very well in both games. He was making moves, scoring goals, and was a crucial part offensively. Andrew Chinn ’24 played great defense in both games, allowing us to perform quite well,” said Niu.
Lim also highlighted several players.
“Jason Kokones [’25] had a very good four-goal game against Westminster after our loss against Deerfield. Our teamwork was good throughout the game in the pool. He scored the first three goals all by himself. If I had to add another person to this list, Ashton Ma during the Deerfield game. He scored two goals and caused three ejections, which helped us gain multiple power plays for us and opened many shooting opportunities,” said Lim.
There are many things that the team is hoping to improve before their next game. Lim believes the most important aspect they hope to improve on is their shooting.
“One thing we worked on was shooting. We have a lot of great inside finishers that can finish in the six meters. However there are a lot of shots missed past the six meter mark that we should have made. We knew that we could make those shots. So [Head Coach, Howard Kalter,] has made practice mostly about shooting and finishing.” said Lim.
Andover is looking forward to playing against many strong opponents in the future. However, Phillips Exeter Academy (Exeter) is at the top of the team’s bucket list, having already lost 3-11 to Exeter this season. Lim is convinced that with more practice, the team has high hopes of beating Exeter in their second game.
“I know that we didn’t have the result that we wanted during [that] game. But we saw great water polo between ourselves, and Coach knows that we can show a lot of what we showed Coach. And if we train our best and we keep learning and playing water polo, we believe that we can beat Exeter. So playing Exeter would be the team I want to play.” said Lim.
Andover Boys Water Polo will face its second double header against Williston Northampton and Greenwich Country Day School on Saturday, alongside hosting St. John’s Prep on Wednesday.
