The Walpole Girls hockey team failed to rise to the challenge of defeating the defending Eastern Mass Champions, Falmouth. Walpole was looking for revenge after a hard fought loss in the playoffs last year to Falmouth. The Clippers came out with a victory last season after a shootout; then, moved on to the Garden and competed in the Division 2 State Championship. Last year, the Falmouth Girls hockey team had many strong underclassmen, including a young goalie, who all returned this season, making the already strong Falmouth line-up even stronger.
Falmouth played hard right from the beginning. Within the first three minutes of the game, Falmouth had already scored twice, the first goal off of a tip from a shot and the second goal – 20 seconds later – slipped in past senior Captain goalie Bethany Welch during a scrum in front of the net. After a good penalty kill by Walpole, Falmouth was able to put their third shot behind Welch, with a shot from the blue line, which snuck its way through the goal-tender’s pads. Shortly after, Walpole stepped up their game during a power play for the Rebels, with many good shots on net and several scoring opportunities, but were unable to convert these opportunities into goals. At the end of the first period both teams had equal shots on net, nine, despite the lopsided score.
The second period was much more even, with much of the play in the neutral zone. Both the Rebels and the Clippers had chances to score, but were unsuccessful for the majority of the period. Falmouth was finally able to put their third shot behind Welch with 1:01 left in the period, with a nice shot into the top left corner of the net during a breakaway situation.
The third period mirrored the second one, with both teams playing psychical and having several scoring opportunities. The Clippers put in the final goal of the game with 4:29 left, during a power play for Falmouth, after a Walpole penalty by junior Rachel Barry for checking.
“We definitely could have played better, but we lost to a good Falmouth team. It would have been nice to get a win after our loss to them in playoffs last year, but we will just have to keep on working so we have another chance to play them during the playoffs” said senior Captain Michaela Tosone.
Overall this season, Walpole has played extremely well, and they are one of the top teams in the Bay State League, with a record of five wins, two losses, and one tie. The Rebels have some tough competition coming up, and will continue to improve in search of redemption in playoffs.
