Girls’ Hockey Upsets St. Paul’s

This past Saturday, girls’ varsity hockey triumphed over St. Paul’s with a score of 3-2. After suffering a 5-1 loss to them last season, the girls trained hard to prepared themselves for an uphill battle.Fortunately, the team came out ready to play and redeem themselves from their tough loss to them last season. Captain Clara Gilbert ‘15 said, “We were all over them and scored two goals in the first period.”Upper Kirsten Nergaard, who scored one of Exeter’s three goals, shared Gilbert’s sentiment. “We jumped out to a nice lead by keeping the pressure on them and not letting them just walk the puck into our zone,” Nergaard said. The team’s strong first period helped carry them through a scrappy second period.The athletes attribute this win largely to a relentless

team effort throughout the entire game. Though the team was not able to coast through the next two periods as easily as the first, Exeter managed to pull through without giving up their lead. Co-captain Marley Jenkins ‘15 said, “The second period was very chippy and rough, but we fought hard throughout the whole game.”Nergaard also commended their coach Melissa Pacific for “keeping us organized on the ice” especially since the coordination that was needed for the victory.Jenkins said that they hadn't played a team “as skilled or as fast” as St. Paul's yet this season, so they had to “adjust in the beginning to play such a strong team.”As goaltender, Upper Allegra Grant played a stellar game, finishing with an astounding 43 saves. Through her immense effort, Grant was able to fend off most of St. Paul’s hard drive to net. Her incredible performance was on full display while Big Red tried to maintain their lead in the final period. Grant’s performance rubbed off on the defense as they “did a nice job picking up loose pucks and starting the rushes the other way,” Nergaard said.

The team has high hopes for their upcoming games and the team’s potential. Nergaard said, “Coach did a great job of getting us the new recruits. The team is really gelling together nicely, the girls fit in great and were a huge help in getting us the win.” The team’s season has only just begun, but they are already starting to play well with each other.With the girls riding high on their momentous win over St. Paul’s School strong team, they set their eyes on what the future holds for the next week and a half. The team is going to face two huge upcoming tests when they play Milton and Cushing, who are supposed to be challenging opponents. A win in these games would be a great way to continue the start to their season with three wins over three good teams.