3/16/09 USAhockey.com: Atlantic District girls tournament story
March 16, 2009
By Aaron Bracy
Special to USAHockey.com
They were huge underdogs, but the girls’ 19-and-under Princeton Tiger Lilies still felt like it was their time.
Even after getting down two goals, the Tiger Lilies, based out of Ice Land Skating Center in Hamilton, N.J., didn’t panic against the heavily favored New Jersey Rockets.
The Tiger Lilies scored three straight goals, capped by Whitney Henderson’s power-play goal with 1:15 to play, to defeat the Rockets 3-2 in the Atlantic District championship on Sunday at Grundy Skate Center in Bristol Township, Pa. With the victory, the Tiger Lillies advance to the USA Hockey National Tournament presented by Easton and McDonald’s, April 1-5 at the ESL Sports Center in Rochester, N.Y.
Both teams entered Sunday’s game 2-0 in the four-team, round-robin format, guaranteeing the winner a berth at Nationals.
Princeton had lost four of five games to the Rockets this season, including in the championship game of the Mid-Atlantic Womens Hockey Association (MAWHA) tournament. But Tiger Lilies coach Lorna Gifis felt as if that defeat was an omen for better things to come.
“The likelihood of beating them two of the final times wasn’t very high, so when we lost that game we all had a feeling that this was going to be our turn,” she said.
Gifis looked anything but prophetic in the early going, as the Rockets came out the aggressor and took a 2-0 lead after the first period. But the Lilies, who were outscored 16-7 in the teams’ five previous meetings this season, pulled within one when Becky Dobson scored on a scrum in front of the net with 3:38 left in the second period.
That was a momentum builder for the Lilies.
“We were actually really positive in the locker room [in between periods] and you would’ve thought we were winning,” Gifis said.
Princeton came out hot in the third period, looking like the Rockets did in the opening 17 minutes, and tied the game on Shea Cuddihy’s follow shot from in close on the power play with 10:47 left.
The score remained locked at 2 and the game looked headed for overtime until Henderson scored on a rebound from close range with 1:15 left to give the Lilies a 3-2 lead they ultimately would hold on to.
“That was the most exciting game I’ve played in, in my hockey career,” said Henderson, a resident of Cheltenham, Pa.
Casual observers might not have expected such an exciting contest due to the fact the Rockets (15-1) finished ahead of Princeton (12-4) in the MAWHA regular-season standings and then shut out the Lilies 2-0 in the league championship game.
But the Lilies maintained hope—and their confidence—heading into the most important matchup of the season.
“We were really fired up and I knew all of us didn’t want our season to end in this arena,” Henderson said. “We wanted it to end at nationals.”
Said Gifis, “We knew we had it in us and can do this if we just rally together.”
That’s what Princeton did, even when it was down early.
“We went into the locker room [when we trailed] and were still pumped,” team captain Sarah McCusker, a resident of Havertown, Pa., said. “We didn’t give up hope or anything.”
McCusker finished third on the team in the three games with five points (three goals, two assists). Dobson led the Lilies with eight points (two goals, six assists) while Cuddihy contributed six points (four goals, two assists).
The Lilies earlier defeated the New Jersey Selects 8-0 and the Quarry Cats 7-0. The Rockets also had a decided advantage over those two clubs, winning by a combined 15-0 margin, as well.
Also for the Lilies, Henderson and Alex Szyprt finished with three goals apiece, Sam So netted a pair and Betsy Sachs and Megan Cassidy each chipped in two assists.
Now, Princeton shifts its focus to Nationals.
“We expect high competition but we don’t expect to give up,” McCusker said.
NEW JERSEY COLONIALS GRAB 16-U TITLE: The New Jersey Colonials finished 3-for-3 in advancing to Nationals when the 16-Under squad capped a perfect weekend in Districts for the North Jersey-based organization.
The 16-U squad, coached by two-time Olympian Shelley Looney, closed out its own 3-0 run in four-team, round-robin format with a 1-0 victory over the Quakers in the final game. Lauren Vella scored the lone goal of the contest with 3:06 left in the first period and Sarah Bryant earned the shutout in goal.
Vella, one of 12 Colonials to record points in the Districts, finished with a goal and two assists. Ashley Dunbar led New Jersey, which outscored its three opponents 11-4, with four points (two goals, two assists) in the three games. Niamh O’Connor and Sarah Bayersdorfer each netted two goals.
“This is my first time in Nationals and it’s a really big deal for me,” Vella, a Staten Island, N.Y. resident, said. “I’ll be full force out there. I want to win as much as anybody out there, or more.”
DEFENSE CARRIES NEW JERSEY COLONIALS TO 14-U TITLE: Allowing just one goal in three games, the New Jersey Colonials 14-U team rolled to the Atlantic District title.
Ryan McCarthy led the Colonials, who outscored their three opponents 17-1, with eight points (five goals, three assists). Hannah Beatti, Melissa Stys and Heidi Germany-Wald netted two goals apiece, with Stys and Wald each contributing a pair of assists as well.
“It feels good, amazing,” McCarthy said.
Four teams competed in the three-day, round-robin format.
Shelby Labe and Allison Aiello scored in the Colonials’ 2-0 win over the Tiger Lilies Red in the final game. Katherine Chester made 12 saves to earn the shutout.
Looney, who oversees the entire Colonials program while coaching the 10-U and 16-U teams, believes the 14-U squad can do well at Nationals.
“They show a lot of spark and enthusiasm so I think they have a chance to make a difference,” said Looney, who scored the gold-medal winning goal for the U.S. in the 1998 Olympics. “I think they can shock a lot of people.”
CORNINE, SALERNO LIFTS 12-U COLONIALS TO CROWN: Kendall Cornine and Emily Salerno each netted two goals as the New Jersey Colonials 12-U team advanced to the Nationals with a two-game sweep of the Quarry Cats by identical 3-0 scores.
Annabel Sangree added a goal and an assist in the series.
Story courtesy of Red Line Editorial, Inc.
