The Andover Boys Varsity Lacrosse team defeated Hyde School 12 -7 on Saturday. In the fourth quarter, the team led 12-3 and pulled out many of its starters, giving up a few late goals. In this game, the team played much better early in the game than it had all season, suffocating the Hyde players and not looking back. Andover was missing a few of its key players: Jake Edwards ’06, Captain Matt Yeager ’06, and Zack Johnson ’08, so it played short handed on defense and in the midfield throughout the entire game. However, the midfield of Dylan Green ’06, Captain Matt Ward ‘06, Khaki Burke ‘06 and Ben Weiner ‘06 still did a great job on ground balls and in the clearing game. The team played smart possession offense all game long. Kevin Gould ’06 had an outstanding game at attack scoring four goals. Looking ahead, the team has three away games in a row against some difficult opponents. On Wednesday, Andover fell to Holderness 5-2 in an away game. Andover knew going in that Holderness was a strong team and Andover expected a very close game. Coach Carr commented, “It is always tough to travel on a Wednesday, to play an away game.” The team arrived at Holderness ready to play, but, like a few other away games the team has had, was slow getting its feet off the ground at the start of the game. Offensively, the team got off to an especially slow start, lacking the amount of enthusiasm and energy needed to get by a strong Holderness goalie. The team failed to come out of the gates with enough power and force. Coach Carr commented, “[The offense] did not play with enough movement and remained stagnant at times. We need to play with more courage.” Because of its lack of intensity, the team only managed to score two goals on the Holderness goalie by Weiner and Gould. In the Midfield, Burke, Captain Ward and Yoni Gruskin ’07 played a strong game. They remained energetic throughout. The defense also played well, working hard to keep a hungry Holderness offense to only five goals throughout the whole game. In the next game, the team will be looking to play with more energy and enthusiasm. Andover will also work on taking the lead right in the beginning of the game. Looking ahead, Andover has two tough away games against Deerfield Academy and Tabor Academy. In closing, Coach Carr said, “Both teams are very strong. However, we missed some opportunities we had.” Holderness took advantage of each and every one of Andover’s mistakes, resulting in a defeat for the Big Blue.
