By Meghan Foley
On Wednesday, January 28th, varsity girls’ hockey took on the Milton Wildcats for the second time this season. The Wildcats have had an impressive year, entering this matchup with an 11–1–1 record to the Rockets’ 3–9. The Rockets fell to the Wildcats only two weeks earlier, with a 2–4 loss on the road on the 14th, but won their previous two games, beating Walpole 5–3 and Natick 3–2.
5 brings up for good attempt
Milton earned the first point with a goal near the end of the first period. In the second, an unfortunate touch by a Needham player gave a Wildcat a breakaway, and they increased their lead to 0–2. The Rockets had a few good attempts, like one shot by Bella D’Amelio a minute after Milton’s second goal, but left the period scoreless.
Only a few minutes into the third period, the Rockets got their goal when freshman defender Shea Davison put the puck in in front of the net. With about six minutes left in the game, Needham goalie Jaqueline Lancaster made a great save, and fans were excited by a play where Abby Cotter put the puck near Bella D’Amelio, who got it to freshman forward Lily Fletcher, who took the shot but hit the outside of the net. D’Amelio had another attempt when she would have had a breakaway in the final minute of the game if not for an unlucky bounce of the puck she had been passed.
After a time-out with just 39.1 seconds remaining on the clock, the Rockets returned to the ice with an extra player in place of goalie Lancaster. When Milton came down the ice while Needham had an empty net, the team played great defense to keep the Wildcats from scoring a final goal, but were unable to tie the game themselves, taking a 1–2 loss.
The Rockets’ next game will be at home at Babson Skating Center on Saturday to face Braintree High School (8–3–3) at 1:30 for revenge after a 2–3 loss back in December. Then on Wednesday, February 11th, they will travel to Cadillac Ice Arena to play Walpole High (5–7–2) at 8:00pm after beating them 5–3 last week. The Rockets’ full schedule can be found online at: www.arbiterlive.com.
