By Max Clifford
Hometown Weekly Reporter
Medfield High School Girls’ Varsity Hockey picked up a road victory over the Mansfield-Oliver Ames-Foxboro cooperative team on Tuesday in Foxboro. The two squads traded blows early, but the Warriors’ young talent lifted them to a 5-2 victory.
Maeve Kelly wasted no time getting the Warriors on the board in the first period. Less than two minutes into the contest carved her way through the Mansfield-Oliver Ames-Foxboro defense and found a gap in the net to give her squad an early 1-0 lead.
After going relatively untested in the opening minutes of the game, Medfield goalie Kamryn Perachi made a play, wiping out an opportunity from the hosts. Mansfield-Oliver Ames-Foxboro, however, went right back to the mill. Annabelle Fanjoy made good on the possession, firing one in from near the blue line to tie the game at one.
Looking to send Medfield into the second period with a lead, Parker Kathan, one of six eighth-graders on the varsity team, scored a deep goal of her own for the 2-1 advantage. The lead, however, was short-lived, as Kayla Islieb knotted the game back up at two less than a minute later.
When asked about his junior high standout after the game, head coach John Summers sang Kathan’s praises. “She’s a smooth-moving defenseman who sees the puck well. She’s a really good skater and a really good hockey player,” he said. “Parker sees the ice well… she’s one of the hockey players, she’s got it all.”
A pair of early transition looks in the second put Perachi one-on-one with a Mansfield-Oliver Ames-Foxboro skater, but each time she was able to keep the puck out of the net.
With the defense holding strong against the attack, the Warriors went right back to Kathan to reclaim the lead. The second goal in eight minutes of game time for the ‘28 defenseman put Medfield out in front 2-1 with just under nine to play in the second.
The Warriors’ advantage was made more comfortable by late goals from Anne Flippo - an eighth grade classmate of Kathan - and Genna McDonald. The home squad continued to test Perachi’s mettle in the third, but the Medfield net-minder put up another shutout period to secure the 5-2 victory.
When asked about his sophomore goaltender after the game, Summers spoke highly of Perachi’s performance. “Kam works hard. We kind of put her in a couple bad situations with some two on ones,” he said. “We can’t blame her for the goals. She stopped the ones she had to. It was a good win for us.”
