Saturday afternoon SPS travelled to Dedham, MA and the home of the Noble and Greenough Bulldogs to compete against another talented side. This would be a close checking affair. The SPS defense did a solid job keeping the speedy Nobles players wide and moving the puck quickly out of the zone; kudos to
Jade Hill,
Gabrielle Smith,
Madelyn Humber,
Malin Wilde and
Maggie Berleth. Nobles would score the lone goal of the period with 3:29 to play when they found a loose puck in the slot and quickly converted the opportunity.
The second period saw more up and down action. The best chance for the Big Red came early when a clean breakout created a 2 on 1 chance for
Chelsea Bell and
Kelsey MacPherson. A deft pass from Bell to
Kelsey MacPherson and a one-timer was labeled for the corner – the Nobles netminder had other plans and made a miraculous save. The period would end with the score remaining 1 – 0 in favor of the hosts.
The third stanza saw the Big Red energy continue and the word of the day, Bewieve (We Believe) come to fruition. With eight minutes to play a good forecheck by
Maealie Glanzer coughed the puck up to
Grace White whose chip pass to the front found third former
Emma Burke in the slot. Burke quickly finished the play scoring her first goal of the season. 1 – 1! Unfortunately, with 4:07 to play, Nobles capitalized on a chance of their own to retake the lead. SPS then killed off a penalty and began to attack with the goaltender pulled for the extra skater, creating several chances to even the score. Nobles was able to score on the empty net with 1:00 to play to put the final score at Nobles 3 and SPS 1. Credit to the SPS goaltender, third former
Julia Alessandro, who was awesome throughout the contest, stopping 38 of the 40 shots she saw and doing an excellent job giving the Bulldogs no second chances.
It will be another exciting week ahead for the Big Red. It begins with the first round of their annual 3 v 3 tournament which always bring great energy and that is followed by a trip to Deerfield on Wednesday, and then a home contest on Friday night versus Thayer Academy before heading off on their mid-winter break. Love the competition to come.
Go Big Red.
