Braintree Girls Hockey Advances Against Arlington

The Lady Wamps faced off Monday night in their preliminary round playoff game against the Arlington Spy ponders.

Both teams came out hard and ready to play. Only 44 seconds into the first period, freshman Haley Payne scored her first high school playoff goal, tipping in a hard shot from the point by Senior Captain Jessie Hasson. Lauren Connelly also assisted, giving the Lady Wamps a 1-0 lead after one period.

With nine minutes left in the second period, Junior Kiley Swain, ripped a slap shot from inside the slot putting the Wamps up by two goals. Senior Michaela Collins shot one in from a feed out, but the goal was waived off after the buzzer. Frustration set in as Arlington could not get one past Junior Rachael Brazil with strong help from her defense Emily Cadigan, Michaela Collins, Meg Linskey and senior captain Jessica Hasson, as the Wamps took a 2-0 lead into the third period.                                                                                                                                     

In the third period, a bigger Arlington team kept the pressure on and had several quality chances, only to be denied by junior goalie Rachael Brazil, who saved her best game of the year to finish the night with 33 saves. 

With 2:10 left in the third period, Arlington pulled their goalie for a 6-5 player advantage. With fatigue setting in, the Wamp’s defense struggled to keep Arlington at bay. Brazil made several key saves in the final minutes of the game  but with only 36 seconds left in the period, Arlington’s defenseman Hannah Wright came from around the back of the net unchallenged to shoot one over the shoulder of Brazil, putting Arlington on the board for the final score of Braintree 2, Arlington 1.

This is a great team win for the Lady Wamps who now advance to face Winthrop, who eliminated Braintree last year, on Saturday night.

–Judith Brazil