Several minutes into the first period of Friday’s game against Milton, Jamie Harisiades ’08 scored on a low shot when she intercepted Milton’s break out and walked in on the goalie to put Andover on the board. Andover came out strong against Milton Academy and had five goals in the first period. Katherine Sherrill ’10 scored from the point when the puck shot out from a huge rebound from Jade-Isis Lefebvre’s ’08 shot, making the score 2-0. McInnis found the back of the net off of another rebound from Captain Stephanie Clegg’s ’08 shot, and Avery Stone ’10 netted the fourth goal. Sherrill scored again off a pass from Kellie Walsh ’11 at the point to make the score a convincing 5-0 at the end of just the first period. Milton Academy turned the momentum of the game in its favor after Andover’s first period surge waned in the second. With less than a minute left in the first period, Milton had a three on two advantage down low, and Milton’s open player was able to get off another shot to put themselves on the score board. At the end of the second period Milton took advantage of a bad pass in the offensive zone from Andover, and the team scored on a breakaway, closing the margin to 5-2. Andover took advantage of the low pressure from Milton to establish an offensive rhythm. Andover seemed confident cycling the puck and maintaining stellar puck possession throughout the period. However, Milton again capitalized on another breakaway at the end of the period. Kaitlin Gaiss ’09 played a great game against Milton especially in the second period when Andover lacked discipline in its defensive zone and allowed far too many shots on Gaiss. However, just as Andover has done in its other games, Andover played well at the end of the game, and with less than a minute left Kaitlyn McInnis ’09 scored off an assist from Harisiades to make the final score 6-3. On Wednesday, Andover was on the road against a tough Westminster hockey team. Coming out with motivation, Andover scored five minutes into the first period when a shot from Lindsay Newman ’09 deflected and rebounded right to Clegg who found the back of the net, and put Andover ahead 1-0. Andover put Westminster on its heels in the first period and dominated in the offensive zone. With only fourteen seconds left in the first period, Westminster got on the scoreboard and tied the game up. Winning the face off in Andover’s defensive zone, a Westminster player took a quick, top-shelf shot past Alissa Fromkin ’09. Fromkin played well throughout the game, stopping breakaways and keeping Andover in the game as she has done all season. Andover played aggressively throughout the game, and found itself a man down due to some undisciplined penalties; however, Andover did not let this affect its game. Andover played with a strong fore-check, and created opportunities even on these penalty kills. This was a welcomed change of pace for Andover, a team that has been struggling to find offense for much of the season. With the score close at 2-1 and with less than a minute left in the third period, Andover pulled its goalie. Andover could not maintain offensive play, and Westminster scored on the empty net to pull ahead and make the score 3-1. “We were pitted against some pretty tough odds in terms of losing players to penalties, injuries, and illnesses and everybody stepped up to almost overcome a tough game,” said Coach Martha Fenton. Andover adjusted well throughout the period, and Captain Kate Foley ’08 said, “I have never been more proud of this team.” On Saturday, Andover looks to get a big win against its rival, Exeter. Last year, Andover dominated Exeter, and the team looks to repeat its success in this year’s season finale.
