RallyNorth.net

Wed, May 04, 2016 05:00 PM @ Methuen

Team	1	2	Final
Andover	7	8	15
Methuen	4	1	5

Andover wins battle of the Gross siblings

METHUEN — Score round one to the younger sibling.

In their first meeting as head coaches, Cat Gross' Andover girls lacrosse team picked up a 15-5 win over Methuen, who is coached by Cat's older sister Briana, in yesterday's meeting at Methuen High.

Andover (6-3) entered the game as the heavy favorite, currently boasting a No. 17 statewide ranking from ESPN Boston, but Methuen (3-7) came out of the gate strong early on. The Rangers kept the deficit to 7-4 at halftime, but Andover pulled away late for the comfortable win.

Following the game, both coaches downplayed any sense of a sibling rivalry, noting that they hadn't talked much before the game and were very congratulatory of each other afterwards.

"When it comes to competition, we're not going to smack talk each other, we let our players speak for us," Cat said. "But it was an intense game and each team came out ready to play."

Methuen got all five of its goals from senior Nicole Hering, who is now up to 54 on the season, while Andover got four each from Veronica Alois and Jordan Torres. Both coaches were particularly complementary of Hering, who has also played for Cat with the New England Twisters, and Cat said she was proud of her team for their second half effort, though they were a bit sluggish to start off.

"Props to Briana's team and how hard they worked, because they never stopped hustling, and that's the kind of heart you want to see in a team," Cat said. "It came on for my girls int he second half, so each team finished on a high note."

Andover will head to North Andover on Friday at 7 p.m. as part of the two programs' doubleheader to raise money for the Pelican Intervention Fund, while Methuen will host Haverhill on Friday at 5:45 p.m.