Girls Hockey Team Shoots by Masconomet

The Marblehead/Swampscott team pelted Masconomet goaltender Alex Jones with over 50 shots, but needed an empty net goal from Rachel McKay to clinch a 2-0 win Monday night at Pingree.  McKay slammed the puck in off a pass from Elena Driscoll.

Marblehead/Swampscott has won two straight, after losing in Winthrop 5-3 on opening night. The Headers (2-1) beat Shrewsbury on Sunday, 3-1.

"We had a late game Sunday, it took the girls a little while to get going," Coach Emily Hudak said. "We played hard, got a lot of shots and were where we needed to be on the ice tonight."

Marblehead/Swampscott goalie Molly Depew only saw nine shots from Masco, but several were in close from forward Lindsay Adam, with the score 1-0 in the third period.

The Marblehead/Swampscott contingent scored the first goal of the game with 7:47 to go in the first period, after relentless pressure on Jones. Elena Driscoll took a quick pass from Eliza Quigley and snapped a shot over Jones's catching glove. McKay also had an assist on the goal that came seven seconds after a penalty to Masco's Nancy Palermo expired.

"We definitely kept the puck in their end for most of the game," said.  "We stressed the importance of not trying to get the perfect shot, just get some shots, and we did get some shots tonight."

Swampscott's Franny Pelletier, a senior defenseman, helped clear rebounds and traffic away from the front of the net all night, giving Depew a clean look at the puck.

Pelletier serves as co-captain with Marblehead's Rachel Conrad, Courtney Maag, and Kailey Gillis.

Katie Zarinsky, a junior forward from Swampscott, took seven shots on goal and spent most of the game pressuring the Masconomet defense, trying to knock in her third goal of the season. Zarinsky scored twice in the loss to Winthrop.

Masconomet tried in vain to deal with wave after wave of offense by the Headers. The Chieftains were whistled for six penalties trying to keep the Marblehead-Swampscott girls out of their end.

Despite the massive shot differential, it was a one-goal game with just over two minutes to play. Masco called a time out at 2:05, to go over the plan for pulling Jones to get a sixth attacker on. After a face off in the Masco end, the Chieftains pulled Jones, and brought the puck right down to Depew's left, where a scrum for the puck took place.  The puck popped free and skidded to the Masconomet end, where McKay ended the drama with 26.7 seconds left in the game.

"It's been about a week and a half since the jamboree and we've been improving, and we played really well the past two nights," Hudak said.

Marblehead/Swampscott takes on Wilmington next Tuesday, Dec. 28 at 12:30 at the Connery rink in Lynn.