Hannah Guzzi ’14 led Andover Girls Soccer’s offense this week and scored the team’s only goals in games against Nobles and Deerfield.
Despite Guzzi’s efforts, Andover lost 2-1 to Nobles on Wednesday and was only able to tie Deerfield 1-1 on Saturday.
Though Andover had energy flowing from the crowd on Parents’ Weekend, Deerfield dictated the first half. Andover’s slow start allowed Deerfield to put an early goal on the scoreboard.
Andover fought hard but could not finish its scoring opportunities in the first half. Guzzi came up with the equalizing goal in the second half.
Kinsey Yost ’15 lobbed a ball over the defense, and Guzzi chased it down and chipped it over the goalkeeper mid-stride.
“We came out a little sluggish in the first half, but we came into the second half determined to get back into the game,” said Yost. “We started playing our game, and from that point on we outworked and outplayed Deerfield but just could not find the [second] goal to put them away.”
Giovanna Pickering ’13 shut down Deerfield’s most important and powerful player in the midfield, which proved pivotal for Andover.
“Giovanna did an awesome job at covering [the Deerfield midfielder]. I don’t even think she [the midfielder] got a shot on goal,” Yost added.
Late in the second half, a Deerfield player suffered a serious injury and needed to be taken away by ambulance.
After the game resumed, neither team could score.
“[The delay from the injury] definitely threw off our groove going into the last few minutes of the game. We were distracted and couldn’t really get anything going,” Yost added.
Andover traveled to Nobles on Wednesday and lost 2-1.
Nobles had the only goal in the first half and maintained its lead going into the second half.
On the hunt for an equalizing goal, Guzzi found the net after receiving a cross from Diana Tchadi ’14.
“We took our play up a whole other level in the second half. We outplayed and outworked Nobles, and it resulted with Guzzi’s goal,” said Nekele McCall ’14.
Nobles responded with a last minute goal, and Andover could not muster enough momentum to generate an equalizing goal.
“Nobles got sort of a fluke goal at the end of the game, and it was too late to recover for us,” said McCall. “We worked hard all game and we were right there with them, but we couldn’t pull it out. Coach [Lisa] Joel was very satisfied with our play in the second half. As long as we keep up the hard work and play our game, there is no reason why we can’t win the rest of our games this year.”
Andover looks to recover from its latest loss when it hosts Lawrence Academy this Saturday and Pingree on Wednesday.
