With eight total goals from Co-Captain Julia Torabi ’12, Andover Girls Water Polo took home the New England Championship this past weekend for the first time since 1995. The team took down Exeter 12-5 on the way to the finals and then topped Deerfield Academy 9-7 in overtime to win it all.
“We worked so hard all season. It was amazing to see all of our hard work pay off on Saturday,” said Co-Captain Molly Levene ’12.
Torabi and other Levene were named to the all-tournament team and Kira Wyckoff ’12 was named MVP.
Against Exeter, the team held the lead throughout the entirety of the game. At the end of the first quarter, Exeter had not even scored.
Torabi and Levene proved their talent once again in the semifinal matchup, with Torabi scoring four goals and Levene netting 3. Wyckoff added three goals to the Andover tally, while Amelia Danovitch ’13 closed out Exeter with two goals.
Wyckoff said, “Every single person on the team contributed to Exeter’s crushing defeat.” After losing to Exeter once this season, Andover proudly defeated its rival with by an enormous seven point lead.
Andover then faced Deerfield in the New England Championship finals. As anticipated, Deerfield proved to be strong competition, fighting until the end of overtime.
Just 30 seconds in, Torabi scored the first goal of the game, followed by two goals from Kate Mesrobian ’12 and one from Danovitch. In the second quarter, Deerfield lessened Andover’s lead by scoring two goals to end the half at 4-2.
The game took a turn for the worse during the third quarter, when Deerfield netted four quick goals. Danovitch brought the spark back to the team and scored to bring the score to 5- 6. Deerfield then scored its final goal in the third quarter, bringing the score to 5-7 in Deerfield’s favor.
Wyckoff scored another goal, and Torabi found the back of the net with just 36 seconds left to bring the score to 7-7.
The game went into overtime, in which Torabi netted another two bring the final score of the game to 9-7
