Tommy McCool ’25 plays Midfield on the Andover Boys Lacrosse team.
Friday 3/22 – Andover 11 – Governor’s Academy 9
Wednesday 3/27 – Andodver 11 – KUA 3.
Last Friday, Boys Lacrosse played Governor’s Academy at home, yielding a 45% ride percentage. On Wednesday, Andover followed with another 11 goals against K.U.A, marking a start strong to the season.
Despite Friday’s windy conditions, many peers came to support the team. Drew Wasylyshyn ’26 described the highly anticipated season opener.
“It was electric; a lot of cheering, a lot of fun vibes. You could really tell everyone was having a great time trying to play their best lacrosse and really just taking in the first game, home opener atmosphere,” said Wasylyshyn.
In preparation for the first game, the team worked on transitional plays, commented Jensen Kohler ’25. The practice came to fruition against Governor’s as Andover held a strong offensive ground.
Kohler said, “We were really working on transition play, so, getting the ball from offense to [defense] or getting the ball from defense to offense, rather, and stopping them from doing that, and we did really well. We had a ride percentage of 45%, which is very high. That means we stopped them 45 percent of the time from getting the ball out of their defensive zone, so that was good.”
However, Andover faced some challenges after Governor’s strong comeback following the team’s fierce offensive plays. Ultimately, Andover was able to regain a large scoring margin through a few crucial shots.
Wasylyshyn said, “Jensen Kohler had some really good low shots that the goalie wasn’t expecting. And it really led to the game changing.”
Jensen Kohler ’25 recalled how the team utilized their momentum to achieve a final victory.
“We got scored on first, but then we came back with like two or three goals streak and that kind of just gave us some momentum. We carried that throughout the whole game and like that, we kind of just use[d] that to come out on top,” said Kohler.
According to Liam Doyle ’24, leading up to the game against K.U.A, the team worked on rotations, offensive formations, and positioning, as well as targeting areas of weakness.
“We had about an hour of film. We had to look over some of the negatives of our St. John’s prep game. And our game against the Governors. There were obviously lots of positives from the outcomes, but, I mean, you got to nitpick the small things to get better,” said Doyle.
Doyle continued, “Today was a very physical game to our advantage. I learned that we’re a much more physical team than we may appear. Ball movement is key on offense.”
Noting the all-around talent of the team, Kohler has high hopes for the upcoming season.
Kohler said, “This year we’re very strong all around compared to years in the past. I think balance is our biggest strength because we have a very deep set of offensive guys, where everybody can score and everybody can do everything. On defense, we also have a very, very deep group. And same with the face-off and goalie position. We have two great players at each of those positions.”
Boys Lacrosse will play Hotchkiss at home on Saturday.
