Warriors play Stoneham to 1-1 tie
SENIOR GOALIE Miriam Wood (right) made 17 saves for the Warriors. In front of the net-minder is junior forward Gabrielle Nadolny. Wakefield played Stoneham to a 1-1 tie on Saturday night at the Stoneham Arena. (Donna Larsson File Photo)
By DAN MARGARITA
STONEHAM — The Wakefield Memorial High girls’ hockey team traveled to Stoneham on Saturday in search of its first victory but only managed to come away with a 1-1 tie against the Spartans at the Stoneham Arena.
Wakefield goalie Miriam Wood made 17 (unofficial) saves to keep Wakefield’s victory hopes alive.
“Miriam played very well and has been all season long, so we’re hoping that she can hang in there a little bit,” said Wakefield coach Jack Foley.
The tie came after a 4-3 loss against Lincoln-Sudbury on Wednesday morning at the Valley Sports Center and an 8-1 defeat against Beverly last Monday at Salem State College. Wakefield is now 0-4-2 on the season.
Wakefield started the game with the puck in the Stoneham end but Stoneham’s defensive efforts prevented a Wakefield shot on net.
The Spartans changed the momentum and Wood was able to deny a number of scoring bids. The net-minder wasn’t helped by Wakefield’s tendency to turn the puck over in its own end, a problem that has plagued the Warriors in the early part of the season.
“We need to get better in our end. Turning the puck over in our end has been a big problem for us early in the season. Against some teams with some pretty good scorers we gave up the puck and it ends up in the net despite my goalie’s efforts. So, we need to get better taking care of the puck in our end and making better passes coming out of our end,” Foley acknowledged.
The pressure paid off when Madison Barry scored to give Stoneham a 1-0 lead, where it stood at the end of the first period.
A series of penalties against Stoneham early in the second period helped Wakefield’s momentum. Julianne Bourque was able to tuck the puck in the corner of the net with an assist from Meghan Guarino to tie the game at 1-1.
“I wasn’t too happy with their effort in the first period. I thought we were kind of watching the game a lot. But as the game went on it definitely got better,” Foley said.
The teams battled evenly in the third period with Stoneham’s Kathryn Porter getting a solid shot on net and then Bourque managed a shot on goal off a face-off from the right circle. Later Kylie Quinlan put successive shots on Wood but the goalie made highlight reel saves to keep the score at 1-1, where it would stay.
Foley indicated that his young squad will need to focus on controlling the puck in order to achieve more success.
“I think it’s been a combination of things. I think it’s a combination of young players who haven’t gotten that composure yet to take a look and see what they want to do with the puck. It’s something to work on and be improved. It’s gotten better at times but we still seem to fall into bad habits when there’s too much pressure,” said the coach.
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At Stoneham Arena
WAKEFIELD………..0 1 0 — 1
Stoneham……………1 0 0 — 1
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First Period — Sto, Barry (Delvecchio, Saia) 6:12. Penalties — Sto, Shannon (body-checking) 14:15.
Second Period — Wak, Bourque (Guarino) 7:52 (pp). Penalties — Sto, McCarthy (tripping) 2:23; Sto, Bragalone (body-checking) 2:58; Sto, McCarthy (high-sticking) 6:58; Wak, Kaddaras (interference) 9:18; Sto, Beauclair (interference) 11:32.
Third Period — No Scoring. Penalties — Wak, Hill (hooking) :12.
Shots on Goal — Wakefield 11. Stoneham 18.
Power Plays — Wakefield 1 for 5. Stoneham 0 for 2.
Goalies — Wak, Wood (18 shots -17 saves). Sto, Libby (11-10).
