When Jayden Elias took the ice at Portsmouth Abbey School three seasons ago, she was thrown right into the fire.
Coach Kurt Carter had the goaltender from Manalapan, N.J., slated to be his No. 2 goalie in her freshman season before taking the full-time load at the position as a sophomore.
As the saying goes, however, things don’t always go according to plan. Elias was immediately thrust into the net after then-senior Sofia Cebrero missed that entire season due to mono, and it’s safe to say she has taken the net for the Ravens and run with it.
“I knew she was good when I recruited her, but we were going to ease her in, no pressure. It was going to work perfectly for us,” Carter recalled. “All of a sudden, our senior couldn’t get cleared and Jayden is in the whole season. … She’s been a rockstar her first couple of years, ... She’s the clear No. 1.”
Amidst an atypical start to her career, Elias has put up numbers that any coach would envy in a starting netminder, compiling a .944 save percentage across her 80 career games.
