Notre Dame Academy gets a bit of payback against Natick

CANTON – After getting shut out earlier this season by Natick for one of its five losses, a loud claim of “justice” sounded out from the Notre Dame of Hingham locker room following Sunday afternoon’s rematch in the first round of the Div. 2 state tournament at the Canton Ice House.

An explosive second period and a resilient attack that utilized breakaways and rebounds helped the No. 7 Cougars (14-5-3) find that joy, as five different players scored to get revenge over the No. 10 Red Hawks (15-7) with a 5-1 win. Sophomore Cameron Bourassa led the charge with a goal and two assists to help NDA move on, while freshman net-minder Lily Prendergast made 19 saves.

Cougars head coach John Findley quickly shot down any notion of “justice” by giving due respect to Natick, but admitted that this win had extra meaning for the team.

“(We) really didn’t want to leave this rink with a loss today because we had played Natick earlier in the season and got beat by them,” he said. “I said ‘You girls have to be ready for them,’ and they were. They came out and played great. … We scored a couple of goals (in the second period) that really swung the momentum big for us.”

For as well as Natick goalie Lilly Fangel (18 saves) and the defense played to weather two separate 5-on-3 power plays without surrendering a goal, and to hold NDA scoreless in the first period, the Cougars finally made headway in the second period as they got more shots on a few breakaways.

Bourassa tallied the first goal of the game when Ava O’Donahue’s shot from the left side ricocheted off Fangel’s pads to the right side for her to bury on a 3-on-1. Natick tied the score about two minutes later on a Stella Tavilla goal, but the Red Hawks couldn’t seem to limit NDA’s rebound opportunities.

Christine Landry gave the Cougars a 2-1 lead off a rebound from Caelan Stewart’s shot with 6:27 left in the frame, only for O’Donahue to make it 3-1 just over a minute later on a rebound from Bourassa.

“They just got pucks to the net, got rebounds,” Findley said. “That’s what you’ve got to do to score. You’ve got to get into those dirty parts of the rink to score goals. Can’t stand around and think you’ll score from outside, not when you’re playing at this level.”

The Red Hawks saw a 10-5 shot advantage from the first period disappear as NDA gained more momentum as time went on, limiting their comeback chances. Those all but ended midway through the third period when Lauren White flicked a wrist shot top shelf for a 4-1 lead, and even more so when Stewart capitalized on NDA’s fifth power-play opportunity a few minutes later to round out the scoring.

“It feels great, we were so in sync and we really worked as a team,” Bourassa said. “We have a lot of talented people, everybody on our team is good. We all work together really well, it’s not just one person (shining over another).”

from Boston Herald https://ift.tt/38bcfAL