Early into the first period against Brooks on Monday, forward Meghan Ward ’19 received the puck from Emily Batchelor ’19 in the defensive zone. Ward brought the puck towards the opposing team’s defense and shot it through a screen of defenders, hitting the top left corner of the net to score the only goal in Andover Girls Hockey’s 1-0 victory.
Two days prior to its 1-0 victory against Brooks, Andover earned an impressive 4-1 win against Choate on Saturday. The team’s two consecutive wins extended its record to 7-0-3.
Against Choate, Andover played a strong offensive game, with goals scored by Jenn Davis ’16, Meggan Rodriguez ’17, Elizabeth Welch ’18 and Charlotte Welch ’18. Davis and Rodriguez secured a two-point lead for Andover early in the game, scoring within seconds after the clock’s start.
Head Coach Martha Fenton ’83 wrote in an email to The Phillipian, “[The team] came out on fire on Saturday against Choate, scoring two goals in the first minute of play! We have been focusing on finishing on offense, so it was great to see them capitalizing on those opportunities.”
Batchelor said, “We took a lot of shots on net, and we weren’t as focused on making pretty plays. Our first two goals were 20 seconds apart and were scored by being aggressive in front of the net, and they went in.”
Against Brooks on Monday, Andover repeated its strong start by scoring early into the game. While the team remained equally aggressive throughout the three periods, it was unable to score again later on and secured the win primarily because of its defensive prowess.
Fenton said, “Against Brooks, we had a harder time finding the back of the net against a very good young goalie, but we kept Brooks pinned in their defensive zone for much of the game and made our one-goal-lead stand.”
Goalkeeper Alexa Matses ’18 said, “We definitely had some more offense going on and were able to get off a lot more and higher quality shots, but their goalie was really good. We had possession of the puck in their end for a lot of the time, and when they got it we were able to shut them down. Overall, I think our offensive game is really stepping up from last week.”
Andover looks to keep up its offensive play when it takes on Brewster away on Friday.
