Sports
In The Battle to Stay Undefeated, Mustangs Muscle Out Marauders
Norwood dominates for most of game holding off Dedham's furious efforts
Saturday afternoon two undefeated girls hockey teams met for a fight to stay atop the Bay State League.
Norwood was heading into the game at 4-0 coming off an impressive win over Braintree Wednesday afternoon, to face a Dedham team which has won three state championships since 1999.
“It was a great atmosphere for hockey, between two great teams,” said Norwood head coach Bill O’Donnell.
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Norwood fought off a furious attack by the Marauder team to cling on to the 2-1 victory and move their undefeated record to 5-0.
Norwood came out playing hard and shooting the puck as the Mustangs unleashed 15 shots in the first period to Dedham’s four.
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Norwood's Christina Frasca came up big in net again. Frasca has allowed, on average, less than one goal per game this season, and she held off the Marauder forwards all night.
Dedham’s goalie Emily Mosca was just as big in net as Norwood out-shot Dedham 23-14 for the game. Mosca also had help from her defense as they blocked eight shots in the first period alone.
O’Donnell said that his team lacked quality shots all night in the win.
“It was a tough game for us," he said. "We were just out of sync.”
Dedham bounced back in the third and out-shot Norwood 8-7, with Collen Downing tying the score at one each with nine minutes left in the game.
Taylor Donners picked up a loose puck in the final minutes and poked home the go-ahead goal with only a minute and half remaining.
“’Win when you have to’ is what they say and we really showed some character tonight," O’Donnell said after the win.
Norwood remains one of four unbeaten teams left in Division 2.
Norwood’s next game will be Wednesday against Wellesley.