MARLBORO – Only the scenic, winter wonderland snowfall may fittingly comply with the magic that second-seeded Andover summoned within the fourth quarter of its state semifinal recreation Tuesday evening at Charles W. Whitcomb Middle School.
Trailing for the primary time for the reason that season opener, the Golden Warriors wanted to muster each ounce of grit they needed to lastly break by a No. 3 Shrewsbury protection that gave them no area to work with all evening. And with two targets within the last 12 minutes of play, Andover accomplished a comeback for the ages.
Bella DiFiore tied the rating after some nice passes in entrance of the web, and sophomore Scarlett Glass buried the game-winner with 2:07 to play in a 2-1 win over the Colonials. The miracle Warriors transfer on to play top-seeded Walpole in a rematch of final yr’s Div. 1 title recreation.
“I’ve got a horseshoe with me,” mentioned Andover head coach Maureen Noone. “They didn’t quit. We played (Shrewsbury) earlier in the year but we knew that they were going to be different this time. They’re very quick, they’re very aggressive. But we didn’t stop. That was the good part. … I think we’re just going to take tomorrow off and regroup.”
The defensive battle between the 2 groups was as relentless because it could possibly be, and after twice shedding to Andover over the previous two seasons, Shrewsbury performed prefer it had nothing to lose. That a lot could possibly be seen in how effectively the Colonials locked down star Emma Reilly over the primary 12 corners the Warriors drew. Each one was a wrestle to even get a shot off, making it anyone’s recreation popping out of a scoreless halftime.
Magic swept over the Colonials at first, with strain round Andover goalie Adelaide Weeden ultimately creating right into a 1-0 lead. Lexi Kent tapped in a lose ball off Maddie Mrva’s stick, and all momentum was in Shrewsbury’s nook with 5:31 to go within the third quarter.
It wouldn’t final too lengthy from there, although.
DiFiore carried the ball down the left sideline early within the fourth quarter, all the best way to the circle. A pair fast passes across the purpose led to her ending off the tying tally. Defense battled as soon as once more forwards and backwards from each squads, with Weeden even coming clutch on a save throughout a defensive nook.
The thirteenth time was the allure for Andover on its nook performs, and a scrum in entrance of the purpose led to the tap-in from Glass.
“(My heart is) racing,” she mentioned. “We just thought (down the stretch), this was going to be it. There’s not going to be 7-v-7, we were going to get this. If we did the corner how we knew how to do it, then we would pull through. … It was (a) one goal (deficit) and we got past it.”
Source: www.bostonherald.com