JULIA WELCH makes one of her 33 saves against Arlington on Saturday night. (Michael Flynn Photo)
ARLINGTON — The Wakefield High girls’ hockey team split a couple of road games first on Saturday against Arlington then on Monday against Shawsheen/Bedford.
The Warriors battled hard against the D1 Spy Ponders at the Ed Burns Arena on Saturday night, playing the home team to a 2-2 tie after one period before Arlington sored four unanswered to take control and erase a 3-2 Warrior lead.
Junior goalie Julia Welch saw plenty of rubber from a relentless attack but came up with 33 saves to keep her team in it, including 13 in a wild 2nd period.
Of course, the scoring started early and often in the opening period with Arlington striking first but freshman Rory McNeill evening it up. Senior captain Charlotte Rossicone won the puck and played it up to junior assistant captain Fiona Recene who beat a forward in the defensive zone and played it up the right boards for McNeill to skate onto at the Spy Ponder blue line and patiently finish low, stick side.
Welch made a strong, glove save before Rossicone gave the Warriors a 2-1 lead unassisted when she won the puck in her own zone and skated all the way, weaving around a defender and curling in front of the net, a quick backhand catching the goalie off-guard as it flew above the shoulder with 6:44 to play.
Arlington’s first of three power play goals made it 2-2 at the end of one.
Wakefield was the better team to start the 2nd period with some relentless pressure eventually paying off on a goal by senior Grace Seabury. Junior assistant captain Maddie DeFeo played a loose puck back into the offensive zone and senior Celeste Scoppettuolo chipped it up to Seabury who deked by a defender and finished on the backhand for a 3-2 lead. Arlington responded less than two minutes later with a goal on a rebound and about a minute later scored their second power play goal to take the lead for good.
Welch continued to make incredible saves but the Spy Ponders made it 5-3 on another power play tally with 4:14 left in the period.
That’s a trend that continued in the 3rd with Welch and the Warriors battling until the very end but Arlington coming away with a 7-3 win.
Wakefield improved to 2-1 on the season when they topped Shawsheen/Bedford 5-4 on Monday night at Janas Rink in Lowell.
McNeill was the player of the game in this one, scoring the game-winning goal shorthanded with 1:45 to play. She also added two assists to lead Wakefield with three points. Seabury had a goal and an assist and Celeste Scoppettuolo had two helpers.
Welch was solid again for Wakefield, especially holding onto the lead in the final two minutes.
“Julia Welch had provided a big presence in net,” said head coach Jacqui Mansfield. “We got too many penalties but we showed our strong penalty kill by scoring a short handed goal. The whole team played to the last minute and that got us a tough last minute win.”
After Shawsheen opened the scoring, senior assistant captain Ava Gustafson evened it up with an assist to Seabury to make it 1-1 after one.
The Warriors scored two in a row in the second to make it 3-1 first by Seabury from Celeste Scoppettuolo then from junior Gianna Scoppettuolo also assisted by her sister along with McNeill.
Shawsheen scored with 1:28 left to cut the lead to 3-2 after two.
The home team tied it early in the 3rd but Wakefield reclaimed the lead with 5:56 to play on a goal by Recene assisted by McNeill and Rossicone.
The Rams responded well to tie it a minute later, eventually setting up McNeill’s heroics to win it.
Wakefield will bring plenty of momentum into their matchup against Woburn (1-2) tonight, 5 p.m. at O’Brien Rink. The Tanners topped the Warriors 4-1 last season.