Andover's Heather Sullivan remembers the first goal she ever scored in field hockey.
"Last year, I was playing on the JV team and they just threw me in at forward," she said. "I scored a goal and the coach looked around and said, 'Was that (Heather)?"'
No one is shocked now when the senior quad-captain scores. In 12 games this season for the 11-1 Golden Warriors, Sullivan has notched an eye-popping 18 goals. But they had reason to be surprised early on. After all, she had always played goalie before this season.
Back-up goalie!
"I am always amazed by her," said Andover coach Maureen Noone. "She has picked so much up so fast. What she does around the net is just amazing."
Amazing enough that with six regular-season games left then the state tourney, she is on pace to surpass the school record (Adrienne Shea's 26 in 2003) and perhaps the unofficial area record (North Andover's Lauren Gaffny's 31 last fall).
Sullivan began playing field hockey in the eighth grade and was immediately made a goalie.
"We made her a goalie because she was very good at kicking the ball away," said Noone. "You wanted her in a key position, and she became quite a good goalie."
Despite her skills, Sullivan found herself stuck behind Tameka Geaslen, who earned the job as a freshman. She then began considering the move to another position.
"I liked goalie," said Sullivan, who, although she was second string, split time with Geaslen in five shutouts in 2006. "Practice was fun, but during games I would get bored because there weren't many shots on me. Tameka was great, and I wasn't going to get much playing time. I wanted to be able to contribute."
During her junior year, Sullivan saw some time as a field player (she scored four goals in blowouts) while serving as backup goalie.
Once this season started, Sullivan was back in net, splitting time with Hannah Pratt as Geaslen recovered from knee surgery. But once Geaslen was back, Sullivan made the move full-time to forward.
"We had two weeks of practice before the first game," she said, "so I was hoping to score a goal right away."
Sullivan did just that, scoring in the 7-0 season-opening win over Lawrence. She was held off the scoreboard in the next two games, but has been unstoppable ever since.
In the fourth game of the season, the 17-year-old scored two goals against Methuen. That kicked off a streak in which she scored at least two goals in five consecutive games. The peak was her first career hat trick, against Lawrence. She has scored at least one goal in nine straight games.
"She is a cherry picker," said Noone. "She's not used to carrying the ball, but she can put the ball in the net from any angle. She receives the ball very well, and anything in front of the net, she's not going to miss."
Sullivan was an MVC All-Star last year in lacrosse, scoring 53 goals. She's headed to Stonehill to play lacrosse, but Skyhawks field hockey coach Shelly Morris would be foolish if she didn't try to get one of the state's top scorers to play both sports.
"Playing attack in lacrosse really transferred over easily to field hockey," she said. "I just try to get low and punch the ball in the net. As a post player, if it's in my area, I try to sweep it in.
Much to cheer about
It's no wonder Sullivan knew how to root on her teammates when she was a backup. After all, cheerleading is in her blood.
Sullivan's identical twin sister Kelly is one of the captains of the Andover High cheerleading squad, and older sister Kathryn, now a student at Boston College, was also a football cheerleading captain.
"We live very separate lives," said Heather of her twin. "We both started in gymnastics. She ended up sticking with gymnastics, and I wanted to play more sports where I can run around."
