GVH Holds on Honorably to Nobles

This past weekend, girls’ varsity hockey had a hometown throwdown with the number one seed, Noble & Greenough School, falling 2-1. Going into the game fresh off of a 4-0 win against Holderness, the team harnessed a lot of momentum and was looking to bust up the favorites.

"Nobles barely escaped with the win, which is quite a different finish than last year, when Big Red fell to Nobles 4-1."

Exeter’s first goal came from upper and defenseman Kathryn Kester on a blast from the point that went top cheddar. As the third period began, the score was tied 1-1. But, only a minute and five seconds after the ref dropped the burnt biscuit, Nobles struck again and finessed a shot from the slot that got the best of Exeter’s all-star goalie, upper Michaela O’Brien.

With 3 minutes to go in the game, both teams received penalties and duked it out in 4-on-4 fashion. Exeter pulled their goalie and surged down the ice in the last few seconds. Lower and forward Ally DeCoste ripped a bunker buster from the blue line as the buzzer sounded, but it was swallowed up by the opposing goalie. Nobles barely escaped with the win, which is quite a different finish than last year, when Big Red fell to Nobles 4-1.

Although trailing for most of the third, one performance that cannot be overlooked was that of the Exeter netminder. O’Brien made seven major saves in the final ten minutes and denied Nobles on all chances to extend their close lead.

Looking back on the game, senior and co-captain Kaleigh Conte commended the team’s hard work. “I think that we dominated most of the game. There were many times, though, where we really could have won it,” she said. Lower Abby Smith shared similar sentiments to Conte, agreeing that “we played very hard, and I am proud of that fact.”

Conte hopes the team improves in seizing shot opportunities. “You might get only one or two [scoring chances] per game playing a team like that,” she said. “Moving forward, that’s the thing that separates a good team from a great team– capitalizing on opportunities.” The team will be working on finishing their shots and getting pucks to the net during practice in the near future.

Seeing as Nobles is a powerhouse team in the girls’ hockey league, the Exeter girls are ecstatic to be able to maintain a high ranking with a team of that caliber. As stated by Kester, “The game could’ve easily gone the other way,” she said. “When we go to play other good teams like St. Paul’s, we are going to have more confidence going in and it will hopefully benefit us more.”

Big Red’s current record is 6-6-2. The team is confident in its abilities as it hosts the Tilton School on Saturday the 24th at 2:30 PM on home ice. Lower Jill Cloonan expressed her excitement for the upcoming game, saying, “I think we are going to do really well if we play like we did against Nobles. Tilton is a good team, but I think we can beat them.”