ANDOVER – Some teams dream of being here, others strive to reach these heights. Andover High field hockey expects it.
“I’ve only known this,” said senior captain Lucy MacLean, who leads the 18-2-1 Warriors into Wednesday night’s (5:30 p.m.) Division 1 state semifinal in Burlington against 14-3-4 Wellesley.
“We work extremely hard during the regular season to see if we can stay together as long as we possibly can. We all really want to make the season last as long as possible and spend as much time as we can with the players, the coaches and everyone involved with it.”
At stake is a spot in Saturday’s Division 1 state championship game. MacLean is one of three four-year varsity Warriors, along with Bella DiFiore and Scarlett Glass, who have been to three straight title tilts, winning twice before being denied a three-peat by Walpole a year ago.
“We’ve been here since freshmen year, and it’s been a long ride for all of the seniors,” said MacLean.
For a while this season, it looked like Andover’s season might be abbreviated compared to the last three.
Graduation took its toll, and the Warriors got off to a slow-ish start with a loss to Central and a tie to North Andover in their first seven games.
“We started off a little bit rocky, but we pulled together as a team and put our mind to it. We were kind of starting new,” said MacLean. “We really pulled together and made something out of the season.”