Clinched tourney bid with win over Warriors
THE MELROSE Lady Raider hockey team clinched a playoff spot with a recent win over Wakefield. (Donna Larsson photo)
By JENNIFER GENTILE
MELROSE — For the second straight season the Melrose High School girls’ hockey team is heading to postseason.
The Lady Raiders clinched a post season spot on Wednesday, Feb. 11 with a 2-1 victory over Wakefield. The win improved their record to 9-9-2 overall and a strong 6-3 in the Middlesex Freedom League. Overall this season it appears that youth is serving the team well. Last year a handful of eighth graders competed on the team, who finished with a 10-10 record and secured a playoff appearance. This year those underclassmen are fine tuning their skill thanks to the leadership of their captains, Alyssa Gorman, Katie Perry and Jess D’Entremont. All three bring experience, toughness and smarts to the ice, helping Melrose glide through the Freedom League with key division wins.
Melrose has been served well by their young and aggressive line of freshmen in Rachel DiFraia, Samantha Kroon and Julia McLaughlin. DiFraia, known for her stick handling skills and overall finesse, has been a leading scorer for Melrose. McLaughlin also is a top scorer thanks to her skating skills and vast knowledge of the game, while Kroon is a tiny package with a hefty punch, which allows her to slip past opponents and gets points on the board. On defense freshmen Jill Mercer and Saoirse Connolly are in the mix with Gorman and Perry helping Melrose to minimize goals, allowing about two a game. At net, the fort is being held down by goalies Hannah Aveni and Haley Walters have made some big saves in the net. The eighth grader Aveni is holding opponents to an average of about two goals a game, pretty good for a newcomer.
Head coach Samantha Tetreau, who played at Wakefield High and Holy Cross, is now in her second year as head coach at Melrose. She credits her whole team for their back to back success. “Every player on our team helps us. We are very young and with young players it is sometimes hard to focus on every period of every game. Sometimes our scores against top teams like Reading aren’t a reflection of how we really play but that could be a good thing for us because looking at our record a higher seeded team could underestimate us.”
A perfect example of how youth is serving Melrose well was their playoff-clinching win against the Warriors by a score 2-1. The Lady Raiders were first on the board with a goal by eighth grader Linnea Kelley, with an assist by Rachel Difraia and freshman Sam Kroon. Melrose’s next goal came from Julia McLaughlin with an assist by Sam Shields. But the game Tetreau points to as a best reflection of their efforts is the 3-0 shutout against Burlington on Jan. 7. “Our execution of the little things, tape to tape passes, clean breakouts, disciplined forechecking and relentless pressure on their goalie helped us beat a very good team,” she says, pointing to the two goals from DiFraia as great evidence of offense.
The team also averages about two goals in scoring against tough Middlesex League opponents. The Lady Raiders have a good grip on Freedom League opponents such as Wilmington, Wakefield, Burlington and Stoneham, but now have a nemesis in former partners Watertown, (now a co-op with Belmont) who already clinched the Middlesex Freedom league. There is also plenty of tough opponents in the Middlesex Large, who Melrose may face in playoffs. But now doubt the fearless Lady Raiders will be ready.
“Just like every week, one of the main things that we will work on is breakouts. Solid D zone is crucial to having a successful season. We will stick to the basics,” says their coach. Of the competition, she expects a lot of familiar faces. “We’re very lucky to be in a very strong league that always produces top teams. We expect to see similar competition to that in our league.”
The MIAA is scheduled to announce playoff brackets on Feb. 22. Fans are encouraged to visit www.miaa.net for detailed information.
