Lucy Parker ’26 defends against a BB&N opponent.
Maren Boyle ’26 passes the ball.
Molly Boyle ’25 looks for an open player.
Friday 10/20 – Andover: 8, NMH: 0
Wednesday 10/25 – Andover: 6, BB&N: 0
Andover Field Hockey was victorious against Northfield Mount Hermon (NMH) on Friday and Buckingham Browne and Nichols (BB&N) on Wednesday. The team lengthened its winning streak to 12 games, bringing this season’s scoring total to over 60 goals.
Peyton Kennedy ’25 was proud of her team’s performance in its game against NMH. Kennedy spoke about the team’s first goal and how it set the tone for the rest of the game.
“One key point of the game I would say is the first 14 seconds, considering we scored in that amount of time. One thing that we really try to play by is just to start every game with intensity and treat every opponent like it’s the best opponent, so I feel like we do that no matter the competition. We always try to come out hard and start off well and I feel like we really achieved that goal. So that was great to see,” said Kennedy.
There were a few key plays that ramped up the energy for the team on Friday. Ava Murphy ’24 highlighted goalie Josie Sarno ’26 and her clean sheet against NMH.
Murphy said, “A key point in the game was towards the end of the fourth quarter. NMH had a big major, odd man rush and thankfully, our amazing goalie Josie Sarno made a huge key play and totally shut NMH down. After, we had the momentum to get it out and not let them back in our defensive end for the rest of the game.”
According to Kennedy, the team stresses the importance of preparing for each opponent, staying composed, and following its plan and playing style throughout each game. Kennedy spoke about the importance of overwhelming their opponent with a high speed-of-play.
“[BB&N] will be a tougher opponent than NMH, but we’re just going to stick to our game plan. It’s been working the whole season, to just go out with hard intensity, push each other in practice because at the end of the day, we’re each other’s greatest opponents,” said Kennedy.
Murphy detailed what the team worked on prior to the BB&N game, recalling certain plays and drills that helped the team achieve a quicker reaction to match its opponents.
Murphy said, “We are aware BB&N is known for their fast restarts when they earn a foul. So we worked on defensively being prepared for that and offensively trying to match that speed. We did quick restarts today, during practice. We worked on quick recovery when we lose the ball and when we gained possession of the ball, immediate reaction time to making a play before [BB&N] can catch up.”
The team’s training proved effective, helping it collect another shutout victory against BB&N. Ellie Parker ’25 highlighted the team’s strengths and spoke on how it is preparing for its next game.
“The strength of our team is definitely our ball movement, especially as the seasons progressed. The patterns we use to work the ball down the field is really impressive and it will either end in a goal or a corner and we’ll try to capitalize as best as we can. So we play Deerfield on Saturday, which is going to be a good game, but we’re just in practice moving the ball well and preparing for quick rebounds in the circle,” said Parker.
Andover Field Hockey will play Deerfield on Saturday.
