LAWRENCE – Five weeks to the day after a visiting Central Catholic field hockey team handed Andover its first loss of the year, the reigning Div. 1 state runner-up returned the favor on the road Monday night.

Bella DiFiore erupted for two of her three goals in a dominant third quarter, pairing with a masterful showing from the midfield and defense in the frame to lead the No. 8 Golden Warriors (14-2-1) to a 5-1 Merrimack Valley Conference win over the No. 7 Raiders (15-1-1).

Central Catholic had trailed by a goal at halftime in the teams’ first meeting before rallying to a 3-2 win. For Andover to out-shoot the Raiders 8-0 coming out of the break this time around, scoring three goals in the third to separate from a 2-0 halftime lead in the process, showed just how much the team has grown over the last five weeks.

Following through on that growth against the rival that beat it first, too, felt good.

“Nothing against them, but I don’t like losing to them – I don’t like losing in league – so this was nice,” said Andover head coach Bridget Morris. “I just think overall, every single kid on my team improved. … We’ve been working a lot.”

“We had a team meeting before the game and we just talked about how much we’ve improved since that game and how hard we’ve been working,” added DiFiore. “I think (the win) gives us a lot of confidence. … I think it felt like a tournament game.”

One of the many “Noone-isms” Morris and the program picked up from former longtime coach Maureen Noone was always calling the score 0-0 at halftime, no matter what it actually was. Andover’s early 2-0 lead started to look in trouble over the last 19 minutes of the first half as Central Catholic gained momentum and trailed just 7-5 in shots-on-goal, so following that mantra turned out to be critical.

DiFiore led the attack in a monster charge, generating two near goals in front with her signature agility and stick-handling. It seemed inevitable she’d contribute to another goal, and a hard kick-clear from Central Catholic goalie Ava Perrotta (12 saves) went right to DiFiore. She buried a flick on the team’s sixth shot of the third quarter less than four minutes in, building a 3-0 lead that opened the floodgates.

Midfielders Lucy MacLean, Mia Giaimo and Avery Pitts hemmed Central Catholic onto its side of the field, and an Andover corner set up Scarlet Glass for a goal and a 4-0 advantage. Four minutes later, DiFiore’s reverse pull in front of Perrotta led to a hat trick and a commanding lead.

“We didn’t want to sit back after halftime, we wanted to keep the momentum going,” DiFiore said. “I can always hear my teammates from the sideline, that’s what keeps me going. Talking to each other on the field – we just wanted the win. … (I was) just putting momentum on the ball and making sure that every shot is worth something.”

Glass, goalie Lucy Baker (seven saves) and fellow defenders Shannon Paul and Molly Ulrich were instrumental in limiting Central Catholic to just one goal (Alex Kohalmi with 10:18 left). The work from the midfield to limit a powerful Raiders group from getting beyond the 25 much in the third quarter proved crucial as well.

“Lucy MacLean was picking pockets left and right,” Morris said. “I think when our midfield plays their best, I really think they can break through anyone.”

Andover got on the board early in the first quarter, needing just three minutes for DiFiore to bat in a deflected ball for a 1-0 lead. Chloe Broderick made it 2-0 midway through the frame. Both goals came on second winds during a broken corner play.

Central Catholic stormed right back, ripping four quality shots on Baker over the final four minutes of the first quarter. Back-and-forth opportunities in the second quarter led to an even 5-5 split on corners at halftime.