U18 girls earn ‘confidence-boost’ victory

Sophie Richardson takes a shot during the Hubbard Pharmacy U18 Girls St. Marys Rock’s 5-1 win over the Lambeth Lancers on Nov. 10. Richardson was one of two players to score two goals in the game along with Tegan Mace.

By Spencer Seymour

The Hubbard Pharmacy U18 Girls St. Marys Rock enjoyed an increase in their offensive success on Nov. 10 when they picked up a hard-fought 5-1 win over the visiting Lambeth Lancers.

Head coach Nathan Brown said his team hit their stride in the final period.

“We really started to execute in the third,” Brown told the Independent. “It took us a little while to get going, partially due to playing (on Nov. 9) as well with only two lines. Our girls are very consistent in that they are at their best when their opponent is really challenging them. Once they started realizing that they needed to get to the blue paint, good things started happening.”

As they began ramping up their play, that aggressiveness in front of the net allowed the Rock to score the game’s first goal when Tegan Mace scored just two minutes and eight seconds into the second frame. Delanie McKay and Georgia Edwards earned the assists. Lambeth tied the game just 46 seconds later, but with five minutes and 18 seconds left in the period, Sophie Richardson restored the Rock’s one-goal lead.

Ella Carter put St. Marys ahead by two with a powerplay goal assisted by Deirdre Parson and Kylie Fifield in the third, the first of three goals by St. Marys in the final frame. Richardson followed that up with her second of the game with the lone assist going to Madeleine Monisit Brown. With exactly six minutes left, Mace also scored her second of the night, with Keirsyn Wood and Rory Brockman picking up the helpers.

Brown called the win a “good confidence boost.”

“We've had a couple of games where we've really struggled to make it all happen, to finish with the result we want and to score those greasy goals. We’ve had a couple of low-scoring ties and then a few games ago, we played Belmont and got down 3-1 but scored three times in the last four minutes with the game-winner with around five seconds left. You can see the team starting to really come together.

“They are starting to believe that they can get it done in their division,” continued Brown. “Out of 17 teams, we’re sitting tied for second right now. They are all putting in the work. Cammie (Lobb) has been our Swiss Army knife. She is always a team-first player. Cammie plays left defence, right defence and forward, and would probably play goal if we asked her to. We’ve had a few members of the U15 team with us tonight in Teodora Walsh and Reese Crawford, and our girls welcomed them in.”

As he examined his team’s strong third period, Brown credited the group for their highly intense compete level at both ends of the ice.

“They just weren't giving up. Everybody wanted the puck. There weren’t really any passengers, especially in the third period. They all wanted to play heavy on the puck, specifically when we got out of our zone, which we've struggled with this year. They're heavy on pucks along the boards trying to get out. Once we started getting some clean exits, they were heading the other way and causing the other team to get frustrated.”