Eliza Quigley ’15 sped down the left side of the field and dodged a waiting Northfield Mount Hermon (NMH) defender. After a quick give-and-go with Captain Eva Toffoloni ’15, Quigley lifted the ball past the goalkeeper to score the game-winning goal for Andover Field Hockey.
Andover continued its undefeated season with victories against NMH on Saturday and BB&N on Wednesday by scores of 5-4 and 4-2, respectively.
Andover found itself down a goal for most of the hard-fought game. It was not until the second half that Andover pulled ahead with two quick goals.
“They scored first, but then, even after we scored, they scored three minutes after, one minute after and 27 seconds after, so we were kind of lagging the whole game,” Ashley Tucker ’18 said.
NMH was the first opponent that managed to match Andover goal-for-goal, and Andover struggled to establish momentum during the game.
“Normally, once we score, we just keep up the trend, so that was a new challenge for us as a team,” said Elizabeth Welch ’18.
NMH’s quick start and confident play unnerved Andover’s usually stable defense. “I think the difference in this game was that, all of a sudden, after they scored two goals, our confidence just kind of got shaky, so we started playing really panicked,” said McCarthy.
Tucker added, “We were kind of overconfident going into it and weren’t as mentally prepared as we could have been. I think we were just kind of caught off guard by how good they ended up being.”
“We didn’t give up, we just kept pushing in the end and we answered every goal that they scored with another of our own. So it was really just the perseverance and the trusting in our teammates that we were going to be able to eke out the win,” McCarthy said.
Against BB&N, Andover improved its level of play and won in a much more comfortable manner.
Katerina Toffoloni ’15 said, “We played much better compared to [the game against] NMH. Our team clicked and worked really well together in the offensive zone.”
“We started a lot stronger this game,” said Anna Fucillo ’15.
Andover utilized tactics that were emphasized during the past few practices.
“During our practices this week, we worked on stopping fast breaks and slowing our opponents. We improved on this in our game today and pulled out a win,” said Eva Toffoloni.
In addition, Andover was quick to decipher BB&N’s style of play and adjust accordingly.
“They had two forwards that would run down the field really fast, but once we figured out how to stop them it was much better,” said Nikoletta Toffoloni ’15. “We also realized that we had to cover those girls and step in front of them to intercept the balls passed to them.”
With only four games left in the season, Andover looks to continue its strong play in order to build momentum before the playoffs. The team plays Deerfield on Saturday.
