Medfield Girls' Hockey Suffers Second Loss of Season

CONCORD – A repeat out-of-conference match-up with Lincoln-Sudbury proved to be less successful this time around for the Medfield High girls' hockey team Monday.

Opening the scoring with a penalty shot by freshman Marylou Cummings, host L-S beat Medfield, 3-0 at the Valley Sports Arena in Concord to give the Warriors their second loss of the season.

“We skated against this team earlier in the season and knew they were a great team,” said L-S head coach Greg Gammons. “We knew if we could get ahead and put the pressure on (Medfield) things would work out.”

The first goal was made possible through a blue line steal by senior teammate Sarah Haberman. After intercepting a pass, Haberman sent the puck to Cummings who managed to cut behind all defenders and draw a high-sticking penalty shot at 12:15.

Starting the penalty from middle ice, Cummings held onto the puck until the final yard where she faked right then cut her stick behind the goalkeeper.

“At first I was really nervous and thought this goalie is really big, but I planned to deke and get it around her,” said Cummings. “I pretended I was going to shoot on the right side, moved it back to my left and backhanded it into the net.”

One minute and forty five seconds later, Haberman would score a goal of her own. Stealing another blue line pass, the L-S senior managed to slip the puck under the goalkeepers legs to put the Warriors up 2-0.

L-S opened the second period with seven straight shots on goal.

“We talked about owning the neutral zone tonight, reading the passing lanes, and stepping up into those passing lanes” said Gammons. “We saw their coach call a timeout shortly after that. That was unfamiliar territory.”

Medfield followed L-S' second score by forcing seven saves, but were unable to get any points. A one-timer attempt from Medfield's Amanda Cronin just missed its target, teammate, Paige Moran and a quick wrist shot from Meara Stack was grabbed by L-S freshman goalie Sarah Provost.

“We knew if we could get to their goalie early and get up on them that would make a difference, because they have not been in that situation too many times this season,” said Gammons. “We put the pressure on them.”

A goal by L-S senior Jamie Charest at 12:42 in the final period would eliminate any hopes of a comeback. Spreading the puck around Medfield's zone, L-S freshman Iris Schedlbauer tapped the puck up top to Charest.

Pausing for a moment, Charest moved forward and used a defender's screen to score left-side.

“We got everyone down low and got their team compact,” said Gammons. “We continued with a focus of making them work hard on their own end and go 180 feet if they are going to score.”

The match-up was the second of the season for the two teams. Medfield won their first match 2-0 at home on Jan. 9.

Both teams finished with one penalty for two minutes each. Provost had a perfect game for L-S with 28 saves, while Borkan had 22 saves with a 83.36 save percentage.

“Twenty eight saves and a shut out; it does not get much better than that,” said Gammons. “She has been consistently getting more confident as the season has gone on and she is only a ninth grader.”

L-S improves to 10-6-1, while Medfield drops to 12-2-3. L-S will travel to play Merrimack Valley/Dual County League (Large) opponent Chelmsford (10-9-1) on Wednesday, while Medfield will return home on Thursday to face Barnstable on Thursday.