By DAN PAWLOWSKI
STONEHAM — The Wakefield High girls’ hockey team outplayed Div. 1 Arlington for 42 minutes in their first game of the season on Tuesday at the Stoneham Ice Arena. Wakefield freshman Sarah Aborn’s final goal of her hat-trick debut was an empty netter, giving the Warriors a 3-0 lead with just over three minutes to go.
Somehow, the Spy Ponders bounced back, getting one 15 seconds later and then pressuring Wakefield with an extra skater once again and finding the back of the net to make it 3-2 with 2:18 remaining.
With an avalanche of momentum, the visitors crashed the net with impressive intensity, evening it up with 1:10 to go before one more incredible top-shelf wrister from Kelsie Partridge, her 3rd, finally gave them a 4-3 lead with just 38 seconds left. A last second effort to tie came up short for the Warriors.
The shocking ending was a rough one for an overall promising Wakefield debut.
Senior goalie Julia Welch made 33 saves, working hard all game to keep Arlington off the board while Wakefield took a lead and built off it.
The Warriors ended the 1st with a 1-0 advantage thanks to Aborn’s first goal, finishing a beautiful give and go sequence with classmate, freshman Molly Burns. A big save from Welch on a point-blank shot and another on the ensuing rebound helped the home squad go into the first break feeling great.
Their confidence grew in the 2nd when Aborn’s second just 1:40 in made it 2-0. Burns again had the assist after a strong move along the left boards followed by a perfect centering pass which Aborn hammered in on a one-timer.
Welch faced 13 shots in the 2nd as the Spy Ponders picked it up but she was unbeatable, squaring up good looks and catching as many shots as she could to prevent rebound chances.
Wakefield’s defense also stepped up, especially senior captain Gianna Scoppettuolo, senior captain Maddie DeFeo, junior Maddy Taylor and freshmen Caroline Burns and Meredith Brackett.
Senior captain Fiona Recene had a good chance but was robbed. Welch’s save of the night came late in the 2nd on a one-timer bid right in front, somehow getting over and sopping the chance.
With Arlington in full press mode to begin the 3rd, the Warriors knew they were in for a challenge. Welch faced 19 shots in the final period. Overall, Arlington out-shot Wakefield 37-7.
Even still, until the Spy Ponders finally broke through, Wakefield worked hard to maintain and extend the lead when Aborn collected the puck in the defensive zone and skated it all the way to bury the empty-netter.
Freshman Tanya Kommaraju scored the first for Arlington at 5-on-5, giving the visitors the two-goal deficit they needed to pull the goalie once again. From there on out, it was the Partridge show, as the junior scored three in a row to devastate the Warriors.
Progress is hard to measure based on circumstances but considering that Arlington beat Wakefield 7-3 in their only matchup last season, Wakefield proved that they could not only skate with, but beat even the most consistently successful teams in the league.
The Warriors will look to bounce back this weekend when they continue their typical early-season tour against tough Liberty Division opponents. They will meet Woburn on Saturday, 6 p.m. back at the Stoneham Arena.
The Tanners are 1-1 after beating Medford 3-2 in the opener before falling to Stoneham/Wilmington 3-2 last night.
