Third Time’s the Charm

NEEDHAM, MA – Boys’ varsity hockey faced St. Sebastian’s last Saturday for their third game in just four days. Following two difficult matchups and outcomes against Kimball Union and Cushing, Big Red found their way back to the win column with a commanding 5-2 victory.“We knew that playing three games in four days would be tough,” senior Kyle Alexander said. “After disappointing results in the first two games, we really buckled down and achieved a solid team win.Exeter got off to an effective scoring attack, kick-started by post-graduate David White, who netted PEA’s first goal off a nice pass from post-graduate Kevin Neiley. “Kevin was our go-to guy,” postgraduate and co-captain Matt Foley said. “He made some great plays.”White had a total of two goals, while senior co-captain Pat Quinn also scored in the game. After Big Red was held to just two goals over a six-period span last week (including an OT period against KUA), a strong offense reappeared on the ice for the boys. In fact, the Exeter boys have scored at least five goals in a game in half of their 20 games so far this season, resulting in ten wins for the squad.While credit in large part goes to the offense, senior and goalie Jack Parsons has also allowed his team to hold onto leads for much of this season. “Jack played great in net,” Foley said. “He’s been playing well lately.”Even though St. Sebastian’s 6-10-1 record may not reflect well on the team’s ability, the St. Sebastian’s players competed hard and gave Big Red a competitive matchup.“Coach told us that if we outworked them, we'd win the game. The game was close for a long time, but we never gave up and came out on top,” Alexander said. “Moving forward, we're trying to take things one game at a time. We all know what this team is capable of accomplishing, but we can't let that hurt us. We have some tough games down the stretch and we need to win each of them.”This journey will continue with an away contest against Milton Academy on Saturday. The Milton Mustangs currently sit at 7-9-1 and hope to work their way to the positive side of .500 with a home win over a PEA team that they lost to 5-1 last year. Exeter, meanwhile, looks to build up momentum and its 16-3-2 record as it prepares for the final few weeks of the regular season.“We’re looking to play better and better every game,” Foley said. “We want to consistently play well and close out the year well to make a run in the top-eight tourney.”