Co-captain Will Walker ’11 netted 4 goals and dished out 2 assists in Andover’s 11-2 win against Tilton on Saturday. The team could not dominate Brewster Academy in the same manner the following Wednesday, and lost 8-7 in a very close finish.
On Saturday, Andover took advantage of a weak Tilton defense. The team broke the game open very early and ended the first quarter with a 5-0 lead. Andover’s domination continued in the second quarter and the team was up 8-0 at halftime.
“We were able to push transition opportunities well against Tilton,” said Walker. “In the settled offense we worked for long possessions and smart shots, which enabled us to control the pace of the game.”
Andover’s offense was working very efficiently throughout the half. “We worked the ball well offensively and effectively executed our sets and game plan,” said Larken Kemp ’13, who had yet another great game against Tilton, scoring one goal and assisting three. “It was fun to see the offensive clicking as well as it was.”
Andover’s offense slowed in the second half with new players getting playing time, and the game ended with a score of 11-2 in Andover’s favor. Tommy Shannon ’12, Ben Green ’11, Steve Fehnel ’13, and Ben Scharf ’12 each scored goals along with Walker and Kemp,
“Most of the time their defense was in a zone,” said Joe Kruy ’12. “Since their slides were late, we got a bunch of open shots on the perimeter.”
After an easy win, Andover set out to face a much stronger and more evenly matched Brewster team. Brewster jumped out to an early lead, going up 4-1 at the end of the first quarter and 6-3 at the half.
“Our settled defense was very good,” said Dolan. “The problem that we ran into was our transition game. They executed very well in transition and we were very unorganized.” Dolan had 11 saves on the day.
Brewster kept its lead throughout the third quarter, and Andover entered the final quarter down 8-5. Kruy scored a goal with nine minutes remaining and another with three minutes left in the game to bring the game within one goal for the first time since early in the first quarter. Kruy scored a season high four goals. Andover got the ball back with one minute to go, but was unable to tie the game up. The buzzer sounded with Andover down 8-7.
“Brewster’s defense did a good job of keeping us away from the net, and ultimately stripped us and cleared the ball with 15 seconds remaining,” Dolan said.
Andover will play Bridgton Academy (7-5) at home at 4:30 on Saturday and Holderness (2-1) at home at 3:30 next Wednesday.
