Kick Saves
Matt Williams
Good programs come up with a system and stick to it.
Great ones, though, can adapt and change when needed, and still find ways to win.
The Marblehead girls have been forced to change from a defense first mentality to an aggressive, shot blocking plan of attack this winter, and the results have been solid.
Marblehead already has 66 goals this season after scoring a total of 67 last year. The record, though, is just 7-7-2, leaving the Lady Headers needing five points in their last five games to make it seven years in a row qualifying for the state tournament.
"Each year we want to qualify, so we need wins or ties, preferably wins," said Marblehead coach Emily Hudak. "We're plugging away and we know we need to work at it every night. We have to take advantage of our chances."
Senior Ally Healy and sophomore Rachel McKay have been clicking on offense lately, giving the Lady Headers plenty of scoring up front. Healy already has a career high in goals with 12 and has 71 career points.
McKay, meanwhile, has grown confident and emerged as a go-to scorer and leads the team with 15 goals and 26 points. She scored 12 points as a freshman and has more than doubled that production.
"Rachel's always had that skill, but she's realized it now. As a younger player, she was happy to get a shot on net but now she's thinking she can score, she's trying to find that space," said Hudak.
The added scoring punch has been important for a team that isn't wining the low-scoring games it became accustomed to the last few seasons. Young goalies Aly Hopkins (freshman) and Sabrina Doughman (8th grade) have played admirably, but their youth means Marblehead is playing a different sort of defense.
"We didn't know what kind of team we were going to be," said Hudak. "Our focus now is taking care of the entire defensive zone, not giving up quality chances. We want to block shots; whenever someone is winding up we need to get a body or a stick in there."
Eliza Quigley, Brittany Smith and Keelin Fallon have been handling the minutes on defense. Quigley now leads all area defensemen in points with a career high 14 goals and 26 points, up from a highly production 8th grade season of 22 points.
Fallon, a senior co-captain with 45 career points, selflessly moved back to defense this year.
Casey McDonald (35 career points) and Katie Zarinksy are Marblehead's other seniors and co-captains. Together with Healy and Fallon, they've made sure the Lady Headers have stuck together. They've been beacons of tenacity and leadership for a group that includes 13 players in 8th, 9th or 10th grade.
"For the most part, their approach is we're going to give it our all," said Hudak. "We know there are going to be some games where we out-shoot the other team and don't win, but shots aren't always great chances. We have to maximize all of our chances."
It appears Marblehead has done just that, with McKay, Quigley and Healy all over 20 points already this year; its the first time the team has had a trio of 20-plus scorer in five years, and as the young forwards continue to mature the production should only improve.
"We're definitely getting more skilled," said Hudak. "They're learning to see lanes, get the puck to the net and to work together to get to rebounds."
Emmarose Winder and Hadley Woodfin round out the forward lines for Marblehead, which has Shawsheen, Peabody, Everett, Bishop Fenwick and Cambridge left on the schedule.
"Each line has to generate for us. We can't rely on certain players — it has to be everybody, in all three zones," said Hudak.
• • •
Masconomet (7-6-4) needs just one more win to get back to the state tournament and one of the big reasons for the Chieftains' turnaround has been the play of captain Katrina Buchta.
A senior from North Andover, Buchta has nine goals and eight assists for 17 points. Her impact has been in all three zones, however, and as a center she's been excellent in the faceoff dot.
"She's been great for us all year. A solid leader," said Masco coach Andrew Boepple. "One area we really worked on was faceoffs. We watched some video on it at the beginning of the year, talked a lot about the position and she's really improved that part of her game."
Junior goalie Alex Jones lowered her goals against to 1.94 with her fourth shutout of the season last night and passed the 500 save mark for the second straight season. The remarkably consistent and durable Jones now has 1,936 saves in her varsity career.
• • •
The Pingree girls find themselves at the mercy of a coin toss regarding who might host the Eastern Independent League final in two weeks. Pingree (10-7 overall) is 8-1 in league action, tied with Berwick for first place.
If both teams win out, there would be a coin toss to decide which team is seeded No. 1 and which is No. 2 because they split the season series. The Highlanders are already guaranteed to host the league semi's at Johnson Rink on Feb. 22, and of course the results of the coin toss would only matter if both Pingree and Berwick win their semi-final games.
Last year, Berwick beat Pingree at Johnson Rink in overtime in the EIL final, and the teams have split the regular season series the last two years.
• • •
Danvers native Alison Butler had three points (one goal, two assists), to help the St. Mary's girls get by Arlington Catholic, 4-2, last night. The win moved the Lady Spartans (13-3 overall) to 6-0 in league play and clinched yet another Catholic Central League title.
• • •
The Beverly girls, 8-4-2, were happy to see the Northeastern women hoist the women's Beanpot on Tuesday night. Coach Fiona Rice is one of the leading scorers in Huskies program history, and its become a tradition for the Panthers to take in an NU women's game as a team building trip.
• • •
Kick Saves, a column on North Shore girls hockey, appears in The Salem News every other Thursday during the winter season. Contact Matt Williams at MWilliams@salemnews.com, 978-338-2669 and follow him on Twitter @MattWilliams_SN.
Local Girls Hockey Scoring Leaders
Player, SchoolPoints (Goals-Assists)
1. Lily Sabatini, Pingree30 (14-16)
2. Rachel McKay, Marblehead26 (15-11)
3. Eliza Quigley, Marblehaed26 (14-12)
4. Jill Witwicki, Pingree24 (13-11)
4. Ally Healy, Marblehead24 (12-12)
6. Nicole Woods, Beverly20 (10-10)
7. Kendra Dow, Masco.18 (10-8)
8. Brittany Smith, Marblehead17 (11-6)
8. Dana Valletti, Masco.17 (9-8)
8. Katrina Buchta, Masco.17 (8-9)
8. Livvy Konaxis, Beverly17 (5-12)
SFlbLocal GOALTENDING Leaders
Player, ScholW-L-TGAASV%SH
1. Jenna LoVasco, Beverly7-4-21.58.9253
2. Lindsay O'Connell, Pingree6-2-01.63.9372
3. Alex Jones, Masco.7-6-41.94.9384
*Editor's Note: Statistics include players from Salem News coverage area only
