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By Josh Perry
Hometown Weekly Staff
Heading into the third period of the Div. 2 state championship game at the TD Garden, Wellesley trailed 3-0 against Notre Dame Academy (Hingham). The Cougars speed and depth had been overwhelming through the opening half hour and the Raiders needed a spark.
Wellesley has been lead by its seniors all season, but it was freshman Hannah McDougall that gave the Raiders life in the third with a goal five minutes in off an assist by sophomore Emily Connors.
A few minutes later, the seniors got into the act when Sophie Vernon pushed the puck ahead to Kiely Noonan but the team’s leading scorer was stood up by NDA goalie Elizabeth Bell.
The Raiders outshot NDA 7-3 in the third (NDA led 20-12 for the game), but could not find the back of the net again and the Cougars pulled out a 3-1 win for the program’s first state title. Wellesley was left to reflect on a third straight trip to the Garden without adding to the program’s last title in 2006.
“Notre Dame had a team speed that we hadn’t seen before,” said Wellesley coach George Campbell. “Normally when you play a team there are one or two hotshots but every kid on their team could fly.”
He added, “These kids never quit. They have a lot of fight. That’s actually how we’ve played the whole year and the first and second periods we were trying to get a handle on pucks and couldn’t do it.”
NDA took control of the game right from the opening face-off. Just 1:42 into the game, Julia Neelon raced down the wing and fired a shot over the blocker of Alyssa Cimino to make it 1-0.
The Cougars added a second goal nine minutes later and it was a beauty. Eighth grader Gabrielle Roy dipped her shoulder and dragged the puck past the defenseman then pushed it far to the backhand around Cimino to the far post.
“We gave up a shot on net and no goalie in high school hockey would have stopped that,” Campbell said. “That kid can fly, she can shoot, she’s an eighth grader and she’s going to have a great career.”
NDA tacked on a third goal in the second period and was dominating heading to the third, before Wellesley responded in the third.
The third time may not have been the charm for the Raiders on Sunday morning but Campbell reflected on the program’s impressive run of three straight trips to the Garden.
“Every trip is very different,” he explained. “We basically rode on the strength of our senior captains who took a team that was basically undefined at the beginning of the year and found the underclassman to get in the game, found the line combinations and just kind of molded them into a team that could be as competitive as we were.”
Campbell continued, “These seniors were everything for us this year; they made the younger kids believe. Tremendous leadership, tremendous hard work, they built the whole thing. Our practices were extremely hard and the seniors loved it and conveyed it to the rest of the players.”
Already looking ahead to next season, Campbell noted that he has talent in the pipeline as well as a strong core coming back.
“We have some pretty good younger kids, both goalies coming back, forwards, defense,” he remarked. “We have a lot to look forward to.”
