Girls’ Hockey Edged By Cushing In Close Game
Last Saturday, girls’ hockey traveled to Cushing Academy. There, a strong Cushing squad edged out Big Red 3-1. It was a memorable game for nearly everyone involved. When asked who the opponent was, lower and goalie Michaela O’Brien replied, “um…Brooks?”
Having graduated a strong core of seniors last spring, girls’ hockey is an exceptionally young team this year. Rather than seeing this as a setback, senior and co-captain Bonnie LaBonté believes that the youth of the team has sparked a dramatic increase in team spirit this year. O’Brien and upper Kaleigh Conte echoed this sentiment, describing the team’s positivity and chemistry. O’Brien said, “In the end, we’re all about pack mentality.”
The girls carried that mentality onto the ice. Prep Cam McCrystal shone in her first start in net, but the beginning of the first period proved to be a rough patch for Exeter. They started off slowly, playing down to a lethargic Cushing team. Both teams rallied towards the end, with Exeter setting Prep Emma Watson up for a beautiful goal. With just a minute left in the period, Cushing responded. They tied the score heading into intermission.
Exeter found its footing in the second period. Conte, LaBonté and O’Brien agreed that the second period was “some of the best playing the team has done all season.” They started off with a clean and quick first play that set the tone for the rest of the period. Big Red played neatly and aggressively. They had 17 shots on goal, compared with just 10 in the first period. LaBonté and Sydnée Goyer both had notable scoring attempts. Despite this success, LaBonté remarked that “a few times, we just didn’t finish to get the goal.”
According to O’Brien, given their stellar performance in the second period, Exeter “went into the third period thinking we had it in the bag.” This confidence led to the team losing some of the aggression that had proven so valuable just a period earlier. Cushing capitalized on this shift of playing style, scoring a goal in the first shift. Exeter continued to battle, but faced with a few controversial calls and an increasingly energetic Cushing team, the girls fell short. Cushing hammered home a 3-1 victory.
Looking back on the game, LaBonté said that the team “rarely played in our zone and just didn’t generate strong enough offensive plays.” This is an issue that girls’ hockey will be focusing on in the practices to come; LaBonté hopes that coming off a loss, the team can “bring better intensity to practice.” She continued, stating that “we played a good game. I think we could’ve won, the pucks just didn’t bounce our way.”
O’Brien reports that the team will certainly “channel their frustration into a killer game against Lawrence Academy this Wednesday.” The girls will play at home against the Brooks School next Saturday.