Hunting for a loose ball in front of the Deerfield goal, Beth Krikorian ’17 angled her stick to redirect a blazing shot from Eliza Quigley ’15 to score the first goal of her Andover career, which proved to be the game winner.
This was the first of Krikorian’s pair of goals in Andover’s crucial 3-2 win over Deerfield Academy this past Saturday.
Less than five minutes into the game, Lexi Davidson ’17 scored a goal from a free start.
“I saw that Deerfield’s defense weren’t set up, so I dribbled the ball into the circle and was able to beat the goalie from about 10 yards out,” said Davidson.
Deerfield battled back, scoring the equalizer only a few minutes later.
The game went into the half tied at 1-1, with each team having taken four shots.
Twelve minutes into the second half, Krikorian capitalized on her first opportunity and gave Andover a 2-1 lead.
“It felt great to score my first one, but I was more excited that I was able to put the team up one in such a crucial game,” said Krikorian.
Less than ten minutes later, Krikorian buried her second goal of the game off of another tipped ball into the Deerfield net, this time from the stick of Evagelia Toffoloni ’15.
“I saw that I needed to fill in the right lane, as the play progressed. Eva [Toffoloni] ran down the left lane and fed me a pass across the cage that I was able to tip in,” said Krikorian.
Deerfield did not slow down as the game came to a close. They earned ten corners in the second half, converting only one into a goal.
Andover was able to hold off Deerfield’s last offensive surge, sealing its victory 3-2 and extending its winning streak to nine games.
Despite success against Deerfield, Nobles (12-1-0) ended Andover’s winning streak this Wednesday. The team suffered a 6-3 loss, its second of the season.
Nobles was able to score its first goal less than 10 minutes into the game off of a rebound. Ashlyn Aiello ’16 made a great save on the initial shot, but Andover could not clear out the front of the net and the rebound ended up right on a Nobles player’s stick, who put it in the back of the net.
Andover went down by two goals before Eliza Quigley ’15 was able to put away a rebound off of a shot by Nikoletta Toffoloni ’15, getting Andover within one.
“There was a scrum out front of the net after out corner and I was able to grab the loose rebound and finish it,” said Quigley.
Quigley scored her second goal of the game five minutes after her first on a similar play, finishing a rebound.
Nobles kept coming and was able to take the lead 3-2 within five minutes.
Eva Toffoloni was able to score on an Andover corner with 2:21 left in the first half, tying the game at 3-3.
“Going into the game Nobles was ranked number four in New England and we were ranked fifth. It was great to play against such good competition and although we suffered a loss, it is only going to prepare for the tournament by playing such good teams like Nobles,” said Quigley.
Andover looks to capture its 11th win of the season against Cushing Academy this Saturday at 3:15 p.m. in Phelps Stadium.
