Olivia Hompe Scores Six Goals as New Canaan Rolls To FCIAC Girls Hockey Title

The New Canaan girls hockey team rode yet another dominating performance by Olivia Hompe to add to their collection of FCIAC championships.

Hompe recorded six goals and an assist Saturday as the Rams defeated Greenwich 8-0 at the Terry Conners Rink to capture their third consecutive league title.

With the seven points, Hompe became the state's all-time leading scorer, surpassing former New Canaan standout Maggie Westphal, who amassed 263 points for the Rams (21-1) before playing four years at Yale. Hompe, who now has an even 100 points this season, raised her career total to 269.

"That's a great achievement," she said, "but I'm probably more happy with the win, the championship win. I think the most important thing is right we're looking at the state tournament and we want to win that."

The Rams will begin a bid for a third consecutive state championship on Tuesday against the winner of Saturday night's playin contest between Darien and Guilford.

For Greenwich (14-6-1), New Canaan continues to be the Cardinals' biggest nemesis. New Canaan won the three games against  Greenwich this season by a combined score of 21-3, taking the two regular-season contests 7-1 and 6-2.

Greenwich also lost to New Canaan in the 2005 FCIAC final, the 2008 state finals and the 2009 state semifinals.

"We tried our best to stop (Hompe)," Greenwich coach Brett Farson said. "She's the best player in the state and she's been giving a lot of teams trouble all season. They got a great team and they deserve it."

New Canaan, whose only lose this season came to Simsbury, improved to 16-0 against FCIAC competition. Greenwich, which reached the final with a 4-3 win over Ridgefield, dropped to 13-6-1 overall.

In the three games against Greenwich this season, Hompe combined to score 15 goals. She had five in the 7-1 win and four in the 6-2 victory.

Additionally, Hompe tallied nine goals in New Canaan's two FCIAC wins, netting three in the Rams' 6-1 semifinal triumph over Darien.

"She's one of those players, the bigger the stage," New Canan coach Rich Bulan said. "I don't have the superlatives, but to use the old Geno (Auriemma) line, we have Olivia and you don't. People see the goals and they what she does, but she makes everybody around better.

"Everybody plays harder. When you have somebody that caliber, you have to keep up to play at that level and I think the girls feed off that."

After defenseman Madzie Carroll and Holly Burwick scored in the first five minutes of the opening period, Hompe took over, tallying the next six goals.

She actually scored a seventh goal that was waived off because the whistle blew before the puck crossed the goal line. And who knows if Hompe might have added one or two more if she didn't spend four minutes in the penalty box.

"I think I played one of my better games, but I think the whole team did," Hompe said. "Our defense played amazing. Kyla (Persky), Madzie and Abbey (Buckenheimer) came up really big. And look at Brit (Gardelle), the goalie. They almost outshot us (the final margin was 32-23 in New Canaan's favor).

The Rams shut down Greenwich's top scorer Hannah Jeffrey, who a hat trick in the Cardinals' semifinal win over Ridgefield.

Despite the lopsided score, however, Gardella was tested on occasion, especially in the second period when Greenwich did outshoot New Canaan, 14-12. Gardella's best save came six minutes into the second period when she stopped a  breakaway.

"Overall, just a great team effort," Bulin said. "I'm very proud of them. I don't think people realize how hard it is to keep getting back here. These guys get it. There's a work ethic. They know the tradition here and they know what it takes to win."

Carroll and Burwick each finished with a goal and two assists.

Hompe registered her first goal with 4:46 left in the first period to give New Canaan a 3-0 lead. She then scored twice in the first minute of the second and again at 7:27 to give the Rams a 6-0 lead after two. Hompe added a pair in the third to put the finishing touches on New Canaan's three-peat.

"She, as always, had a really solid game," Carroll said. "She puts the puck in the net a lot, which is really helpful," Carroll said. "We work really well together."

New Canaan played without Molly Robustelli, who underwent surgery on Friday after disclocating both knees and suffering cartilage damage in the Rams' final regular-season game against Darien.