KINGSTON — Among the many eight elite women hockey groups that face off within the power-packed Tenney Cup, Milton was the one one final season to go winless over its three video games.
It’s now one win away from taking the entire match.
Senior Sabrina Stone netted 4 targets with an empty-netter Monday evening, pairing with freshman Mia Cataruzolo (two targets, help) and senior Nayeli Thayer (help) for a prime line eruption the No. 3 Wildcats (5-0) used to beat No. 2 Hingham, 6-2, within the match’s semifinal spherical at The Bathroom.
The defending Div. 2 state finalists had been intent on a greater exhibiting than final yr. Handing the reigning Div. 1 state champion Harborwomen (4-1-1) their first lack of the yr to get to Wednesday’s remaining speaks volumes about their progress.
“This group is simply constructed completely different,” stated Milton head coach Matt Lodi. “They only come they usually’re able to go from the very starting. I’ve by no means had a staff like this in my teaching profession that simply has the IQ, has the tenacity, has the desire. … We already know we belong. We made it to the Backyard final yr. Being on this match just isn’t about proving we belong, it’s nearly proving who we’re. That’s finished one sport at a time they usually take that to coronary heart.”
“It’s clearly such an enormous enchancment from final yr,” Stone added. “This match is an enormous assertion for us to indicate who we’re, who we grew to become from the offseason. However we’re not at our full potential but.”
Hingham did nicely to restrict the injury Milton might do with its elite velocity early on. It took a Cataruzolo highlight-reel objective with 3:25 left within the first to offer the Wildcats a 1-0 lead, however freshman Maggie Pollenz (objective, help) wanted lower than three minutes into the second to pot the 1-1 equalizer for the Harborwomen.
As goalie Caera Hart (18 saves) and the protection impressed, although, Milton’s prime line finally caught steam.
Stone gathered a deflection off her preliminary shot in the correct circle, and fired in a 2-1 lead with 7:08 left within the second. About two minutes later, an ideal cross from Cataruzolo arrange Stone by the left submit for a 3-1 benefit.
“Mia’s imaginative and prescient for the sport, she sees the ice higher than anybody I’ve ever coached,” Lodi stated. “That cross she made … was phenomenal.”
Thayer’s shot off the pads halfway via the third bounced to Cataruzolo within the slot, which she completed off with one other highlight-reel objective – this time with one hand.
Pollenz’s wrap-around with 7:49 to go put a unfastened puck in entrance that Ellie Bellew (objective, help) buried for a 4-2 Hingham deficit and a few life, however Stone went bar-down for a pure hat trick to get the objective again earlier than an empty-netter sealed the win.
“My linemates did such an excellent job setting me up all sport,” Stone stated. “I feel we’ve clicked so quick this yr.”
All six targets got here from that prime line.
“To us coaches, that’s the perfect line within the state,” Lodi stated. “I’m not making an attempt to sound overconfident by that, however that they had all six targets at the moment they usually simply set up a presence.”
Lodi spoke extremely of Cataruzolo within the preseason, entering into former star Molly Murphy’s function alongside Stone and Thayer.
She has 9 targets and 4 assists in 5 video games thus far, second solely to Stone’s 16 factors.
“She has such a excessive hockey IQ,” Stone stated. “She all the time makes the correct performs. (She has) an excellent shot too, however she’s not egocentric in any respect. She’s actually good.”
A lot of the win is a credit score to the protection, which contained Hingham’s assault in waves regardless of a number of promising appears to be like. That features two odd-man rushes that freshman Colette Gorham broke up with out a shot on web – one among which got here in a 4-2 sport that would have simply grow to be 4-3 if not for the disruption.
Mairin Hart, Elise Hinckle, Emily King and Gorham all stood out in a whole effort all-around.
“We ask a variety of our protection,” Lodi stated. “We attempt to delight ourselves on an aggressive forecheck, which requires back-check like loopy. … It’s a very robust D-core, and that’s going to hold us a great distance.”
