BROOKLINE, Mass. — Groton has slain the dragon.
Caroline Matusovich’s game-winner in the third period was all the No. 1 Zebras needed to prevent a New Hampton four-peat. Groton held off the No. 7 Huskies for the 1-0 win and the Dorothy Howard girls Small School championship at Dexter Southfield on Sunday.
New Hampton, the former three-time defending champion, beat Groton in the 2023 and 2024 title games.
Junior goalie Nora Wilson (Weybridge, Vt.) earned the win for Groton (19-6-2). She earned Most Valuable Player for the tournament.
MORE CHAMPIONS: Boys Elite 8 — Avon Old Farms beats St. Mark's | Boys Large School — Cushing beats Berwick | Boys Small School — Winchendon beats Holderness | Girls Elite 8 — Loomis Chaffee beats Deerfield | Girls Large School — Phillips Exeter beats Choate
Junior goalie Elizabeth Vincent was equally strong for New Hampton, which finished 15-16-1.
The Huskies dictated the pace for much of the first period, landing high-danger shots on Wilson. She was up to the task, including lunging to deny senior Colby commit Kelsey Baker’s (Concord, Mass.) backdoor chance off a feed from Katie Usilton. Groton also caught a break when a rebound in tight jumped over Emily Hachey’s stick as she crashed the net.
Groton flipped the script in the second, hemming New Hampton in and keeping plays alive at the point. After the Zebras survived a 5-on-3 penalty kill, they began to pile on the chances. Vincent denied senior Jaelyn Trudell’s (Andover, Mass.) breakaway before thwarting sophomore Zoe Smith (Bolton, Mass.) on a follow-up to senior Tina Scalese’s (West Boylston, Mass.) breakaway.
New Hampton tilted the ice again in the third, but Groton settled in during a strong 4-on-4 stretch with Smith and the Huskies’ Gianna Young (Wilmington, Mass.) in the box.
Moments later, on another 4-on-4, Matusovich (New Gloucester, Maine) picked up a loose puck inside her own blue line. The sophomore motored the other way on a 2-on-1 with Trudell, opting to shoot. When Vincent couldn’t glove it cleanly, Matusovich buried the loose puck in the scrum as she crashed the net.
The win marked Groton’s first title under head coach Tim LeRoy.
Quick takeaways…
- What a game. This had it all. Momentum swings. Great goaltending. Quality scoring chances. High emotions. You knew it was going to come down to a greasy goal as the stalemate wore on.
- Hats off to Scalese. The Princeton commit didn’t end up on the scoresheet, but the senior saved one of her finest performances for her final act with the Zebras. She was everywhere, playing with high compete, winning battles, making plays in all three zones and generating a ton of chances. Groton’s heartbeat dragged them into the fight one more time. She and the rest of the seniors finally were rewarded after previous playoff heartbreak.
- It wasn’t all about Scalese, though. So many of Groton’s depth skaters made key plays throughout the game, especially in the second and third, whether it was senior Ella Nannene (Acton, Mass.), sophomore Erin Chen (Andover, Mass.), senior Angeline Che (Sudbury, Mass.) or others. Major kudos to junior defender Tatum Friedholm (Sudbury, Mass.), too, who was a force in all three zones.
- Groton executed perfectly on its final defensive stand. Friedholm, senior Stonehill commit Jamie Noonan (East Bridgewater, Mass.), sophomore Matusovich and Scalese were among those disrupting New Hampton in the neutral zone. The Huskies never got a chance to pull Vincent for the extra attacker.
- Give a ton of credit to New Hampton for a hell of a run as the seventh seed. The Huskies caught fire late and nearly did it again in the postseason. It was night-and-day between when I saw New Hampton at the Dexter Southfield Holiday Tournament vs. Sunday. They were sharp, executed on the forecheck and played with a ton of pace. Senior Vermont commit Addy Peel (Scarborough, Maine), in particular, had a strong afternoon.
