After a week of indoor practices in the cage and a cancellation of Saturday’s game due to torrents of rain, the Andover Boys’ Varsity Lacrosse team finally got a chance to come out onto the grass for a home game Wednesday against Moses Brown. In a tough game, a strong Moses Brown defeated a rusty Andover squad 11-9. The play was sloppier than usual since the fields were still completely swamped from the rain. Andover was not sure exactly what to expect from Moses Brown going into the game but Andover knew they would face an athletic team. Moses Brown has had only three losses on the season, all against strong lacrosse teams like Exeter and perennial powerhouse Loomis Chaffee. Nick Anschuetz ’08 said, “Going into the game we were looking for a win, but we came out flat.” Justin Lee ’06 added, “It wasn’t that it we weren’t intense, we just didn’t play like we usually do. We expected to win, but they played a lot better than we thought they would.” Andover’s offense played well, but threw the ball away too much. Anschuetz continued, “When the offense was clicking it was really pretty”. Throughout the game the team struggled to make transitions from offense to defense. Scoring three goals, John Bukawyn ‘08 had a particularly strong game. Khaki Burke ’06 and Pat Curtin ’07 also played well, each with a goal and three assists. Playing a very strong game, Lee ran up and down the field all game, getting a lot of ground balls. Yoni Gruskin ’07 commented that Lee was, “the machine he usually is.” Spencer Rice ’08 played his first entire game in an Andover uniform, sacrificing his body for many key saves throughout the game. Andover was unable to stop its opponent’s quick fast break. This enabled Moses Brown to score a bunch of goals. Moses Brown easily turned over all of the Andover possessions into a fast break. Andover encountered one of the best goalies it has seen all season. Moses Brown’s Goalie baffled Andover’s attack men as he made quick work of their shots and immediately threw the ball half way up the field. Things were not looking up for Andover when it was down 8-4. In the first minute of play in the 4th quarter, Andover picked them selves up by scoring three goals. The team fought strong and come back to tie the game 8-8. Lee commented, “We thought we could come back and win but they got lucky and pulled away with the final goals.” In the final minutes of the game, Moses Brown pulled away and Andover just could not catch up. The final score was 11-9 in favor of Moses Brown. Looking ahead, Andover will travel to Choate this Saturday for a much anticipated contest. In one of the final games of the season, Andover will try to improve transitions. Gruskin added, “We need to pull ourselves together and adjust to other teams style of play. About five minutes into game, we knew exactly how they were going to beat us if they did.”
