Sports

Toffoloni Triple Threat: Sisters Secure All Five Goals

Nikoletta Toffoloni ’15 opened up the scoring as she capitalized on one of Andover’s 14 corners, finding a loose ball out front and banging it home less than five minutes into Field Hockey’s game against St. Paul’s.

Andover dominated St. Paul’s from start to finish, winning the game in decisive fashion 4-1, and outshotting St. Paul’s 19-1.

The match against St. Paul’s marked the beginning of this week’s trend of leadership from Eva Toffoloni ’15, Nikoletta Toffoloni ’15 and Katerina Toffoloni ’15. They scored all five of Andover’s goals and led the team in its win over St. Paul’s and its tie at an away game against Middlesex this past Wednesday.

Following Nikoletta Toffoloni’s goal, the Andover offense relentlessly attacked for the next 20 minutes of play. It reaped the rewards of its efforts as Eva Toffoloni scored with just over four minutes left in the half.

“Eva is just relentless—she runs hard each game, every play. That is simply who she is. That is how she practices too—her hustle and drive are second to none,” said Head Coach Kate Dolan.

St. Paul’s lone shot came off of its only corner at the beginning of the second half. The ball snuck past Andover’s goalkeeper and found the back of the net to bring St. Paul’s within one point of Andover.

Andover responded quickly. Less than a minute later, Eva Toffoloni fired home her second goal of the game to double the team’s lead back to two.

Andover’s last insurance goal came five minutes later, when Katerina Toffoloni found the ball in front of the net and jammed home the fourth and final goal.

“Eva [Toffoloni], Eliza [Quigley ’15] and I were working well together and creating many opportunities as a line, and luckily I was able to capitalize on one of our chances by being in the right spot and putting the ball in the right hand corner,” said Katerina Toffoloni.

On Wednesday, Andover took on Middlesex in the “Playing for Pink” game, in which both teams wore pink jerseys in celebration of Breast Cancer Awareness Month.

“We weren’t just fighting for the blue, we were fighting for pink,” said Lila Dolan ’15.

Both teams battled back and forth throughout the entire game, which ended in a 1-1 tie.

Right from the beginning, Middlesex established itself as a very competitive team, outshooting Andover 6-2 in the first half.

Strong defense kept Andover in the game and Ashlyn Aiello ’14, the goalie, made four consecutive saves on four rebound shots.

Less than a minute after they had called a timeout to draw up a play, Middlesex was able to get one past Aiello off of a reboud 15 minutes into the second half.

“We kept on reminding each other when we were down that this game was bigger than us. We were fighting for all those out there who had to battle cancer,” said Eva Toffoloni.

With just over five minutes left, Eva Toffoloni broke past three Middlesex defenders and buried the tying goal through the goalkeeper’s five hole. This was only the third goal Middlesex has let in all season.

“She pulled through when we needed it most. She single handedly put all the momentum back on our side—it was a total game changer,” said Quigley.

“I was playing for Catherine Anderson [’12], a PAFH alumna, who is now in remission from Hotchkins Lymphoma. I was also playing for my aunt Debbie, who just got a double mastectomy. I fought today for what they had to go through,” said Eva Toffoloni.

The game went into overtime when the game ended knotted at 1-1.

Andover dug deep and dominated the ten-minute overtime even though it was unable to find the back of the net.

The closest Andover came to sealing the deal was off of Eva Toffoloni’s penalty stroke. She snapped a shot that was headed for the top right corner, when Middlesex’s goalie lept into the air and swatted it to the ground, saving the game.

“To be honest, I have no idea what I said to the team. It’s them, their effort that matters most, not anything I say,” said Coach Dolan.

Andover looks to carry over its efforts against Northfield Mount Hermon (NMH) at 2 p.m. this Saturday at Phelps Stadium.