Holding off an extremely potent Loomis Chaffee offense last Saturday, Co-Captain Kaitlin Gaiss ’09 made several impressive saves throughout the game, and her strong play in the net in the opening five minutes dictated the pace of the game in the first half. Even with the effort of Gaiss., the Loomis offense was too much as they went on to crush Andover in a 17-7 loss. Despite the fantastic play from Gaiss and the supporting defense, Andover had trouble moving the ball with confidence on the offensive end, offering scarce opportunities to score and allowing the Loomis offense to possess for absurd amounts of time. The game started off with Loomis gaining immediate possession and scoring two goals in succession. It was these first few minutes that characterized the game for Andover, which was forced to play a very defensive game. Midway through the first half, Summer Washburn ’11 passed the ball through the middle to Brooke Van Valkenburg ’12 who streaked towards the net. After a Loomis defender interfered with Van Valkenburgs’ stick, she took a free position shot from the 8-meter mark putting Andover on the board for the first time and jump-starting the Andover offense. Riding on the momentum from the first goal, Co-Captain Alissa Fromkin ’09 took the ball from the corner of the field and scored off of a dodge past her defender just a minute later. Off the next faceoff, Van Valkenburg was able to scoop the ball from a scrum in the midfield and carry it into the offensive zone to score her second goal of the game. Playing as if no one could stop her, Van Valkenburg received another pass in front of the net from Emily Rademacher ’11 and scored her third goal of the first half. The offensive surge from Andover put Andover up with a score of 5-2. At the end of the first half when the whistle was blown, Andover was right behind a powerful Loomis squad by a score of 6-7. The second half of the game allowed Loomis to showcase their skills and take control of the game. They were able to completely dominate in both the offensive and defensive ends, holding Andover to only one goal in the second half, which was scored by Katilyn Mcinnnis ’09. After facing one of the better halves of offense Andover has seen all season, the final score was 17-7, with Loomis gaining the win over Andover. On Wednesday, the girls headed away to play another very strong team, Thayer Academy. Unlike in the game against Loomis, Andover came out slow and undisciplined in both ends of the field. Thayer took advantage of the opportunity and jumped out to a quick 1-0 lead. The offensive trend persisted for Thayer, so that midway through the first half, Thayer already had a commanding 8-0 lead. After Fromkin took it upon herself to break the ice for Andover by scoring her first goal of the game, the half ended with Thayer on top, owning a commanding a 12-2 lead over Andover. The second half of the game was radically different for Andover as they were able to score nine goals, while holding Thayer to a mere three goals. Despite a great second half effort, Andover eventually lost by a score of 15-11.
