Armed with an intense, unwavering focus, the Boys Varsity Water Polo Team played one of its best games this Wednesday, achieving a 12-6 victory over Suffield. Starting quickly with Andover taking possession, the fast-paced game seemed undecided with both teams evenly matched and juggling for the ball. The struggle soon ended when Howie Kalter ’07 skipped the ball in from the perimeter. With that goal tucked under its belt, the team took off and never looked back. Captain Jamie Neuwirth ’06 scored soon afterwards on a fast breakaway. Following up with another fast break, Captain Neuwirth lured the Suffield defender away before passing the ball off to Ryan Ferguson ’07, who slammed it into the goal. Although Suffield had a very strong two-meter player, Jeff Zhou ’06 managed to keep him out of commission with a very aggressive defensive. However, Suffield did manage to score during a four-meter foul shot, ending the first quarter at 3-1. Andover continued its assault throughout the second quarter, starting with Captain Neuwirth lunging down the pool on a drive to score another goal. With Andover goalie Andrew Glasrud ’06 creating a wall front of the net, Suffield could not score a single goal under Andover’s pressing defense. In stark contrast, Andover blasted off two more consecutive goals. After wrestling with his defender, who was latching onto his arms, Scott McColl ’06 managed to fire off a backhand from out of nowhere, whizzing the ball perfectly over the startled goalie’s head. Finally, Captain Neuwirth topped the quarter off at 6-1 with a hard shot from the perimeter. During the third quarter, Suffield started to come back with greater intensity. Bombing the ball in from the outside, Suffield demonstrated that they were not going to give up yet. However, Andover responded enthusiastically to this challenge. First, Captain Neuwirth drove in again to make yet another goal. Then, Kalter swiftly swam out to intercept a slow pass to the goalie, stealing the ball and scoring in a blink of the eye. Nevertheless, Suffield quickly rose up with an answer, scoring from the two-meter. In the fourth quarter, Andover maintained its offensive onslaught. First, Ferguson scored from the perimeter. Then, Kalter scored after receiving a nice pass from Jamie during a fast break. Suffield managed to sneak in a skip shot before the barrage continued when McColl skipped a hard shot into the bottom left. Captain Neuwirth scored off of a pass from Ferguson and topped off the score at 12-4. However, Suffield threw in one final effort, scoring two consecutive shots, consisting of one tricky skip shot and another point off a drive, ending the game at 12-6. With the team focusing on new offensive strategies during practice, Coach David Fox was extremely pleased that Andover’s defense did not get rusty. “We were also very apt at recognizing where the ball should go when our teammates were open,” Coach Fox recalled.
