Falmouth Girls' Hockey Skates Past Whitman-Hanson/Pembroke

By: Rich Maclone
Published: 12/21/12

 If the Mayans were right, and today truly is the last day on earth, the Falmouth High School girls' ice hockey team made sure to get in some last minute goal-scoring before saying goodbye. Should time continue to exist it will bode well for FHS as the team seems like it might be finding some chemistry after walloping Whitman-Hanson/Pembroke by a 6-1 score in Bridgewater on Wednesday night.

The Clippers, who appeared at No. 6 on the initial ESPN-Boston Top 20 poll this week, improved to 3-0 overall to start the year.

Sophomore Maddie Haberl entered the game without having scored in the team's previous two goals, but she made up for lost time by collecting a hat trick in the game. Rachel Moore scored her third and fourth goals of the season for the Clippers and Kelly Ferreira got her second as FHS dominated over the last two periods. The Clippers outshot the Panthers 33-10 for the game, including a 17-3 showing in the second, which proved to be the pivotal period.

"We got a little bit of our intensity back after the first period, and they were moving the puck well and seeing each other and that's what we like to see this time of year, the lines are starting to click a little bit more," Head Coach Erin Hunt said.
FHS skated to a 1-1 tie over the first 15 minutes, but exploded for four in the second to take charge of the game. It took FHS just 44 seconds into the second to pull out of the deadlock with the Panthers as the line of Moore, Alexa Scribner and Amy Wilson once again provided the spark. The trio had accounted for the game's first goal, an unassisted tally by Moore on a power play 3:02 into the contest, and made it 2-1 on their first shift of the middle period.

The go-ahead goal was nothing short of tenacious by FHS. Falmouth was on the attack, with Scribner flinging a shot from the bottom of the right wing circle toward WHP keeper Melissa Hatch, who made the initial stop. She also stopped the rebound attempt by Wilson, but couldn't keep out Moore's follow-up to that, a poke that trickled the puck in.

A few minutes later, while skating shorthanded, Falmouth scored the best goal of the season so far to take a two-goal lead, one that was nothing short of excellent. Killing a penalty, Moore ended her PK shift by dumping the puck from her own blue line down the ice into the opposite corner. Wilson gave chase and got the puck at the same time as the defense, stripping it away quickly. Haberl had just hopped onto the ice, to replace Moore, and filled the slot. As she dug for the goal she accepted a perfect feed from Wilson and sniped a shot through the five hole to make it a 3-1 game.
"It was great teamwork to see them do that, and it's great to get a shorthanded goal, that's for sure," Hunt said.

Ferreira made it a 4-1 game four minutes later, with 4:36 to play in the second. She came off the left wing boards and let a shot fly that fluttered through traffic and in off of Hatch's glove. Falmouth then won the ensuing draw, flew down the ice and struck again, just eight seconds later, to make it 5-1. Haberl got her second on a wrister from the high slot with 4:28 left.

Haberl would add one more for the Clippers 57 seconds into the third period, finishing off the game's scoring at 6-1. The sophomore was in front and backhanded in a feed from Maggie MacDonald, who also assisted on an earlier Haberl goal.
Falmouth returns to action, if the world is still spinning on its' axis, tomorrow afternoon at the new Falmouth Ice Arena at 4:20 PM against Ursuline Academy.

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