Last Saturday, Andover beat Choate in an intense match-up for the first time in over a decade. After losing to Choate 3-1 during this year’s Christmas tournament, Andover knew what to expect and turned on the pressure.
Andover came into the game with crisp passes and an aggressive fore-check, clearing the puck out of its zone without any problems. Co-Captain Marianne Brunet ’12 put the first goal of the game away when she one-timed a beautiful pass from Co-Captain Brooke Van Valkenburg ’12 into the back of the net. Soon afterward, Choate capitalized on its power play to even the score to 1-1.
Later on in the game, Anna Fucillo ’15 chipped the puck out of the zone and forechecked into Choate’s end of the ice. Caroline Garrity ’15 tied up the Choate defender, allowing Fucilllo to pick up the puck and snipe it from the side of the goal right over the goalie’s left shoulder to regain Andover’s lead.
“We’ve come together in a remarkable way, drawing full effort from every single player to succeed. You can see the great energy from this new group of girls by each goal in the Choate game; [they were] scored through hard work and plays involving every player on the ice,” said Brunet.
Unfortunately, Andover couldn’t get another win on Monday against Brooks School. The team struggled to get the puck out of the zone, gave up odd man rushes and left unmarked players wide open in front of the net.
Brooks scored the first goal of the game at the start of the second period when Andover’s defense lost the puck behind the net. Brooks sent the puck out in front of the net, took a shot and deflected it over the goal line.
Andover gained some momentum when Garrity scored an unassisted goal. Barely inside the far hash marks, she shot a rocket that went crossbar and down, tying the game 1 to 1.
In the third period, however, Brooks scored again after more confusion on the part of Andover’s defense. At the end of the third, Brooks scored again on a breakaway to raise its advantage 3-1.
“We made a lot of mistakes Monday, and unfortunately that’s what cost us the game. We could have won, but we just didn’t play our game,” said defender Hannah Sorkin ’14.
“It was a tough game because it was on a Monday, so we didn’t really come ready to play. We started to pick it up in the third period, but we couldn’t finish,” added Van Valkenburg.
Andover will take on Brewster Academy at home this afternoon at 3:30 and will play at St. Paul’s School tomorrow at 4:30.expect and turned on the pressure.
