After a slow start, the girls’ varsity hockey team rallied in the second and third period to defeat the Bulls of the Holderness School 5-0 on Friday, January 25 in Concord, MA.  Five different skaters contributed to the overall score making the victory an entire team effort.

The Bulls came out strong and quickly took control of the first 10:00 minutes of play. They continuously applied the pressure in the Zebras’ defensive end and won many of the 50-50 battles.  Christina Cleroux  ’14 stood firm in net however and shutdown numerous scoring opportunities for the visiting team. Finally, with 4:50 remaining in the period, the Zebras seemed to come alive as Eleanor Knutzen ’13 found Brook Gary ’14 at the point who blasted her shot into traffic in front of the net. Sarah Tabeek ’14 got her stick on the puck just in time for a nifty tip-in giving Middlesex the 1-0 lead.

Picking up right where they left off, the Zebras continued to build upon the momentum they had gained at the end of the first and took it with them into the second and third periods. Cici Frattasio ’14 began the three-period scoring campaign when defensemen Brooke Gary ’14 and Leah Olson ’15 worked the puck into the offensive zone and found her (Frattasio) patiently waiting in front of the net for a beautiful top shelve goal.  Just under 30 seconds later, Middlesex struck again when Ashley Arnold ’13 caught Maddie Winslow ’14 in the neutral zone who took off down the ice on a two- on-one with Eleanor Knutzen ’13.  Winslow timed a perfectly paced tape to tape pass to Knutzen ’13 at the hash marks who then quickly tucked the puck behind the Holdnerness goaltender for the third goal of the game.  Ashley Arnold ’13 closed out the scoring for the period with a shot from the offensive blue line with assists from Maddie Miller ’13 and Jeanie Dwinell ’13.

Isabel Krietler ‘13 scored the lone goal in the third period after skillfully weaving her way through a sea of Holderness defensemen and lifting the puck into the high left corner of the net.  Christina Cleroux had 16 saves on the night, while rookie goalie Katie Lovell had three saves to protect the shutout.

Middlesex now (7-4-1) will face Thayer Academy next  on Saturday, January 26 in Dedham, MA before leaving for the semester break.