
ANDOVER, Mass. — No. 6 Phillips Andover made a statement on Wednesday, rolling to a 4-2 win over No. 4 Cushing in a key, top-10 clash in girls prep.
Sarah Powers (Lynnfield, Mass.) scored twice for the Big Blue, while Caroline Averill (Wayland, Mass.) had two assists. Emily Mara (Winchester, Mass.) had a goal and an assist, and Kimee Duplessis (Framingham, Mass.) also scored. Marie Lee (Southboro, Mass.) earned the win in net with 16 saves.
Bella Freitas (Everett, Mass.) scored twice for the Penguins. Sadie Bellissimo made 33 saves in the loss.
Mara opened the scoring just over four minutes into the first, cleaning up a rebound in front from Maggie Averill's (Wayland, Mass.) shot from the left circle.
Freitas tied it with 10 minutes to go in the first, dangling around a defender off the rush before going bar-down to the top-right corner.
Powers answered moments later in front of the net to make it 2-1.
Freitas scored on the power play early in the second to pull even again, but Andover answered less than 30 seconds later. After Peyton Kennedy (Sudbury, Mass.) and Lilly McInerney (North Reading, Mass.) overwhelmed Cushing on the forecheck, they worked the puck to Duplessis in the slot who picked the top-right corner, going bar-down.
Powers extended the lead to 4-2 with a backhand-forehand finish in tight after Caroline Averill found her coming in as the trailer with speed.
Andover leaped to the No. 3 seed in USHR's Elite 8 projection, sitting at 10-1-1 on the season. They entered the game as the projected seventh seed. Meanwhile, at 18-3-0, Cushing dropped to No. 6 in the projected Elite 8. They were No. 4 in this week's top 10 and entered the game projected as the third seed.
Let's dive into nine standouts as well as two quick takeaways from the game.