The NEPSAC girls prep school hockey season wrapped up with three thrilling finals at Worcester Ice Center on Sunday.
Teams were taking part in the Chuck Vernon tournament for the Elite 8, the Patsy Odden tournament for large schools and the inaugural Dorothy Howard championship for small schools.
The Elite 8 championship came down to two dominant teams with a plot twist: Noble and Greenough, which entered the final having not lost a game the entire season and winning the Harrington tournament, and Phillips Academy Andover, which had a solid run of its own and earlier had prevented Nobles from having a perfect season. Rivalry game!
Here's a breakdown of what happened at the NEPSAC girls prep school finals tournament last weekend:
Elite 8:Â Chuck Vernon Tournament
Nobles came into the final having rolled through the season, entering with an amazing 31-0-1 record, the lone blemish coming in a 1-1 tie against, you guessed it, Andover.
In fact, the Bulldogs had allowed just 24 goals in those 32 games, and had never trailed by more than one goal in any one game. But two goals by Andover to start the final put Nobles behind 2-0 early in the second period, and the scramble to recover was on.
Suddenly, it didn't look like the cakewalk some expected for Nobles.
The deficit seemed to spur on Nobles, as they scored four goals in the second to Andover's one to steal a 4-3 lead heading into the final period of regulation. In the third, they held off a rally -- including three power plays -- by Andover to eke out a 5-4 win.
The win meant Nobles finished the season with a nearly perfect 32-0-1 record. Andover finished at 18-8-1.
Nobles' comeback overshadowed a great performance by sophomore Gwyn Lapp (Andover, Mass.), who had a hat trick for Andover. Rose O’Connor (Newton, Mass.) had the other goal for the Big Blue. Emmy O’Leary (Southborough, Mass.) had a pair, including the winner on the power play, with singles coming from Maeve Connolly (West Roxbury, Mass.), first-team league All-Star Katie Pyne (Cohasset, Mass.) and Cassidy Piersiak (Needham, Mass.).
Other first-team All-Stars in the game were Ellie Bayard (Medfield, Mass.) of Nobles, plus goalies Taylor Hyland (Wellesley Hills, Mass.) of Nobles and Sophia Merageas (Medfield, Mass.) of Andover.
Large Schools:Â Patsy Odden Tournament
The large schools title game wasn't as close, with St. Paul’s defeating second-seeded Choate, 6-0.
First-team All-Star Tiffany Hill (Falmouth, Mass.) opened the scoring just 34 seconds into the game, and it was all St. Paul's after that. Tournament MVP Gaby Roy (Marshfield, Mass.) scored a hat trick, Natalie Tulchinsky and Eliza Farriss (on a penalty shot; Old Greenwich, Conn.) rounding out the scoring for the Pelicans, who finished at 21-6 after just missing out on qualifying for the Elite 8. Abby Matusovich (New Gloucester, Maine) recorded the shutout.
NEPSGIHA 2019-2020 All-NEPSAC large schools player of the year: Skylar Irving (Kingston, Mass.), Tabor Academy
Small Schools:Â Dorothy Howard Tournament
In the first small schools tournament, Cushing beat No. 1 seed Rivers, 2-1.
As the score might indicate, this one was a goalie duel. Cushing senior goaltender Sarah Potter (North Reading, Mass.), named tournament MVP, was solid in the final against Rivers. Red Wings sophomore Eve Stone (Weston, Mass.) starred at the other end.
Sam Taber (Tewksbury, Mass.) and Mia Langlois (Windham, Mass.) did the scoring for Cushing, sandwiching goals around one by Rivers' Margaret Barrow near the halfway point of the game.
The Penguins finished the season at 19-14-1; the Red Wings were at 18-6-2.
NEPSGIHA 2019-2020 All-NEPSAC small schools player of the year: Taze Thompson, New Hampton School
