Medwar, Andover perfectly good

Two unbeaten field hockey teams clashed yesterday, and as the saying goes, something had to give.

It took 56 minutes and 25 seconds, but Andover freshman Hanna Medwar was finally able to break a scoreless tie, propeling the Golden Warriors to a 1-0 victory against nonleague opponent and reigning state champion Walpole.

“I think every time the two teams play, we know it’s going to be very tough,” said Andover coach Maureen Noone said. “I think like us, because they’re such a good team they’re not used to playing on defense as much and they got a little overaggressive . . . . Eventually it paid off.”

The result of these two defensively staunch teams colliding was a chippy, hard-fought battle that had both sides gasping for an offensive opportunity.

The Golden Warriors (11-0-0) began asserting themselves midway through the second half, as they racked up eight set plays from the corner in the second half alone (11 overall), putting the Porkers (91-2) on their heels.

Walpole staved off each corner try, with a lot of help from keeper Gigi Anello, who made seven second-half saves and nine overall.

On the 11th and final corner for Andover, a broken play saw the ball bounce in front of the Walpole net. Medwar drove home the goal while falling to the ground in the scrum with just 3:35 remaining.

“She’s a freshman and she’s been pounding goals in lately, she has tremendous talent around the net,” Noone said. “You don’t see a scramble like that too often, but when it means something this team can get down and dirty, and we got a bit of luck as well, but she earned it.”

Abbey Otterbein recorded a goal and an assist to boost Beverly (9-3) by Marblehead, 3-1.

Boys soccer

Gabe Najim’s goal for unbeaten St. John’s Prep (10-0-2) helped secure a 4-0 win against Malden Catholic in the Catholic Conference.

In a nonleague matchup, Christian Kiernan scored his first varsity goal and Michael Jones had the game-winner as Wayland (7-0-4) edged Westford, 2-1. Kyle Canario stopped seven shots and Matteo Cugno finished with two assists as Billerica (5-6-2) knocked off Wilmington, 2-1.

Jeremy Verley scored the lone goal as Milton Academy (7-1-2) blanked BB&N, 1-0, in the Independent School League . . . . Matt Leigh scored a hat trick to power St. Mark’s (5-3-1) to a 3-1 victory against St. George’s.