BROOKLINE, Mass. — Make it back-to-back Elite 8 titles for Loomis Chaffee.
The No. 5 Pelicans defeated No. 6 Deerfield, 5-1, in the Chuck Vernon girls Elite 8 championship at Dexter Southfield on Sunday.
Senior Harvard commit Lindsay Stepnowski (South Glastonbury, Conn.) and junior Easton Pramuka each scored twice for Loomis (24-4-0). Senior Cornell commit Carly Dann (Hanover, N.H.) also scored, and senior Williams commit Adeline Roper (Kennebunk, Maine) earned the win in net.
Stepnowski earned Most Valuable Player for the second year in a row, too. She had 10 points (six goals) in three postseason games this year, following seven points (six goals) in three games last postseason.
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 Large School — Phillips Exeter beats Choate | Girls Small School — Groton beats New Hampton
Senior Williams commit Gia Thompson scored for Deerfield, which finished 21-5-2.
Stepnowski opened the scoring on a shorthanded breakaway 7:25 into the first period, going forehand-backhand against Deerfield senior Izzy Kirby, a Hobart & William Smith commit. Dann doubled the lead less than a minute later, going bar down in the slot off a feed from Sophie DiGioia (Milford, Conn.).
Stepnowski made it 3-0 with 7:39 left in the second period, roofing a forehand shot on a breakaway.
Thompson cut it to 3-1 for Deerfield when she jammed in a rebound as time expired in the second.
But Loomis, which lost to Deerfield in overtime (2-1) a week ago, didn’t look back in the third, as Pramuka tacked on two unanswered goals for the 5-1 final. She buried her own rebound off the rush 3:51 into the period before cleaning up another rebound in tight with six minutes to go.
It marked the Pelicans' second title under head coach Liz Leyden.
Quick takeaways …
- What more can you say about Stepnowski? You’ll be hard-pressed to find a more clutch postseason performer in the prep ranks. Just look at the numbers in both championship runs. She’s a game-breaker in every sense, capable of beating goalies cleanly from the faceoff circle or beating them with her bag of tricks on a breakaway.
- Stepnowski shouldn’t outshine fellow seniors like Dann, Roper, Yale commit Annie Schwarz (Fairfield, Conn.), Penn State commit Megan Hosman or Williams commit Hattie Willard, either. Two seasons ago, the hype was around them as sophomores and the type of step they could take together. They came into their own as juniors last winter, and they were in complete control as seniors. This was their team. Schwarz was equally as dominant as Stepnowski throughout the entirety of this season, along with Dann, a natural defender who skated at forward. Hosman and Willard formed a dominant pairing on the back end.
- Hats off to Roper. She had some ups and downs through the first two postseason games, including some forgettable goals against Nobles. But when it mattered most, she rose to the occasion (again). She made some massive saves in big moments, whether it was against Deerfield’s Ava Giroux (St. Albans, Vt./Dartmouth) on a late 2-on-1 in the second, Chloe Cleaves (Riverside, Conn./Yale) in the slot in the third or Sophie Frost (Yale) in tight late.
- Give Deerfield credit for bearing down and getting some momentum back at the end of the second. The Big Green got to their game and generated a ton of zone time down the stretch in the third. For a minute, it looked like Loomis might escape in a big defensive stand, but a key faceoff win for Brady Wierl (Middlebury) and a strong net-front effort by Thompson got Deerfield back into it.
- It was good to see Pramuka’s line rewarded twice in the third. She, along with junior Brooke Murphy and sophomore Julia Stepnowski (South Glastonbury, Conn.), executed on the forecheck and were hard to play against all game, especially in the third.
