By Sam Robb O’Hagan
Andover High School field hockey coach Bridget Morris does not care how her players score goals. “‘I need you to get the ball in the back of the net,’” she said she tells them. “‘It’s up to you how you’re going to do that.’” So, when a flying ball floated past Caroline Samaras earlier this season, the junior, who also plays on the school’s softball team, hit the ball like she was swinging a bat. She scored anyway.
“You’ll hear the other team’s coach yelling,” said Morris, now in her second year as head coach of the Golden Warriors. “And I’m just like, ‘I don’t care.’”
Andover field hockey will compete in its fourth straight Division I state championship game tomorrow, Saturday, Nov. 16 at 5 p.m. at Worcester State College. Following a 15-2-1 regular season, Andover entered the 2024 state tournament as the No. 4 overall seed. It conceded just one goal in the first three rounds and beat Wellesley 2-1 in the state semifinal on Wednesday.
The Division I championship game will be a match-up of titans, as Andover takes on Walpole in the finals for the fourth straight year.
Under longtime coach Maureen Noone, Andover grew into a state powerhouse, repeating as state champions in 2010-2011 and 2021-2022. Noone retired after that last title, handing the keys to then-assistant Morris, who was a player on the 2010 and 2011 teams.
In Morris’ first season last year, the Golden Warriors made it back to the state title game against Walpole but ended just short of a three-peat, falling 1-0. Now, the teams will meet again.
“Coach Noone had this incredible ability to make you want to work harder and make you want to be better,” Morris said. “She had, in my opinion, a lot of success with teams that aren’t necessarily stellar field hockey players, but they’re really good athletes with a really good work ethic.”
Morris has worked to continue the tradition Noone started with the help of Dan Casper, who’s been a volunteer coach for over 20 years and whom the players call “Rocket,” as well as assistant coach Laura Reid and junior varsity coach Sam Shea.
But she’s also instilled her own message: “Do what you’re supposed to do.”
The Golden Warriors do just that and continue to get results. Led by senior captain Bella DiFiore (26 goals, 20 assists in the regular season), Andover outscored its opponents 76-10 this year.
“The coaches know exactly what they want us to do and how to get us to achieve that,” DiFiore said.
DiFiore has played in each of the last three state championships, dating back to her freshman year, as has fellow senior captain and midfielder Lucy MacLean. The leadership group is rounded out by seniors Mia Giaimo (midfield) and Scarlet Glass (defense).
The goalie is senior Lucy Baker, who’s in her first year as a starter. Morris said Baker blossomed over the year and the Golden Warriors allowed goals in only five of their 17 games.
Under Noone and now Morris, Andover focused on developing players.
“My freshman year, I came in with no prior knowledge at all,” DiFiore said. She’s now committed to play field hockey at Saint Anselm College in New Hampshire.
Forty-eight players were in the program this year across the freshman, junior varsity, and varsity teams. Morris “did whatever she could to keep the freshman team, because it makes a huge difference,” she said.
The Golden Warriors would, of course, love to win another state title, but they work to keep their focus on simply getting better each day. Last year, as they went for the esteemed three-peat, parents talked about the possible three-peat all the time. Morris said she works diligently to ensure the team’s focus is purely on the next practice or game ahead of them.
Now, there’s only one game left.
As the Warriors were getting set for their 2024 playoff run, Morris was asked what it would feel like to win her first state title as a head coach.
“I don’t know,” she said. “I haven’t really had time to think about it.”
This story was published as part of a collaboration between the nonprofit Andover News Service and the Department of Journalism in Boston University’s College of Communication. The student journalist is a member of Professor Meghan E. Irons’s Reporting in Depth class.