Tom Resor had a feeling.
It was Dec. 17, 2023. Nobles just won the Harrington Invitational Tournament for the 15th time since 2000, shutting out St. Paul’s, 4-0, in the title game. The Bulldogs did to the Big Red what they had done to opponents throughout the season: shut them down and cash in with timely goals around the net.
Resor, in his 23rd season behind the bench with 10 NEPSAC titles already under his belt, began to fully believe his team had what it took to win it all come March.
“With how well we played there, I guess I got a little glimpse,” Resor said. “The tournament sort of cemented the fact that, ‘Wow, we have a great mix of young and old. We've got great depth. We can really skate and forecheck.’ I think with how well we played in the final game against a very good St. Paul's team, I was really pleased.”
The Bulldogs didn’t rest on their laurels. They came out firing to start the new year after the holiday break, beating Dexter Southfield, the eventual Large School runner-up, 5-0. In their first five games coming out of the break, Nobles held a 33-2 scoring advantage with three shutouts.
It wasn’t a guarantee that the Bulldogs would be capable of such an offensive output.
Nobles scored 81 goals in 32 games in 2022-23 but lost 37 of those goals with graduating seniors. The team didn’t lose when it scored twice or more in a game, but Williston shut out Nobles in the semifinals last season. Resor hoped for a significant increase offensively this season, even with some big holes to fill.
“To the returning players, I sort of put that out as a challenge,” he said. “We’ve got to not only make up for the lost ones, but I was hoping to get to maybe 120 goals. That would have been nice. Almost four goals a game is a lot.”
Nobles got to 142 in 31 games, finishing with a plus-120 differential and averaging 4.58 per game.
Entering the season, Resor knew returning forwards like junior Calleigh Brown (Foxboro, Mass.), junior Molly MacCurtain (Reading, Mass.) and sophomore Gretta Hulbig (Foxboro, Mass.) would need to step up. All three easily set career highs this season.
“It was huge. All of them improved on their performances, not only becoming better players but also more productive,” Resor said. “They were our three leading-scoring forwards, and that’s what we needed them to be. They answered the challenge right away.”
Senior defenders Olivia Maffeo (Canton, Mass.) and Sophia Levering (Westwood, Mass.) also were over a point per game. Newcomers and younger players also made significant impacts, especially eighth-grader Catherine McCool (West Roxbury, Mass.).
“This is where the big difference this year was, our ability to score,” Resor said. “Across the forwards, it was balanced. Obviously, having Maffeo and Levering doing so much was a huge plus, too. … We got returning forwards upping their production, and we got great production from new players. It was really balanced.”
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Fast forward to the Elite 8 championship, and Nobles was scrambling.
The puck was loose near the crease as the Bulldogs held onto a 1-0 lead over back-to-back defending champion Williston, thanks to McCool’s first-period goal. The Wildcats were making a big push on a late power play in the second period. It was critical for Nobles to find a way to build on the lead.
Levering found the puck amid the chaos. The senior Yale commit recognized the open space in front of her and skated the puck out of danger and into the offensive zone. She picked her spot and rifled a wrist shot inside the top left corner.
Omni Rink, Nobles’ home ice, erupted as the Bulldogs took a 2-0 lead.
In the third, Maffeo did what she all season — score. She skated the puck up ice to buy time for her team to change. She saw a seam open, beat a defender 1-on-1 and chipped the puck over Williston goalie Olivia Ferebee’s left shoulder. Maffeo, fresh off scoring a hat trick in the quarterfinals and setting up the lone goal in the semifinals, added crucial insurance to put Nobles up 3-0.
“It says a lot about their ability to thrive under pressure,” Resor said. “Their ability, not only to be consistently good all season but to step up when we needed it … it’s big. Sophia’s shorthanded goal and Olivia’s end-to-end goal were really special.”
Williston got on the board, but the Bulldogs held on to win, 3-1, for their 11th title under Resor and first since 2020. Resor will have a shot at No. 12 next season. He had previously said this season would be his last but announced to the team before the tournament he’ll return next year.
As productive as Nobles was, it was Anya Zupkofska’s (Braintree, Mass.) goaltending and a stout defense between Maffeo, Levering, Jaime Griswold (Concord, Mass.) and Ainsley Gray (Wellesley, Mass.) that served as the bedrock for the Bulldogs’ championship run.
Zupkofska, a Brown commit, earned tournament MVP after making 30 saves in the championship. She finished the season as arguably the NEPSAC’s top goaltender with a .950 save percentage.
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“It came together. We knew we had a potentially great defense coming into the season,” Resor said. “They're all good and experienced. They played terrifically. … Anya was making big saves throughout, and you had Sophia and Olivia controlling, killing penalties and doing all of the other things they can do."
In the end, Resor’s gut feeling was right as the Bulldogs completed an undefeated 27-0-4 season. To get it done on home ice made it all even better.
“We’ve won it once here before, but for them to do it here in front of their families, faculty, teachers and friends, it just makes it extra special,” Resor said. “I think this group, to do what they did, going through the season without losing … it builds some pressure. … At the level the game has come to with so many good teams in prep school girls hockey, what they’ve done, to win it now, that’s more significant in a way.”
