Weston-Wayland Shines Despite Loss to Waltham in Season Finale

They could be called the fighter and they certainly had a lot of true grit, these members of the Weston-Wayland girls’ hockey team, who outshot host Waltham by a whopping 27-10 count, but fell to the Hawks, 4-2, to close a winless but promising campaign on Saturday. 

“Even without a win this year, we are optimistic for next year because we don’t graduate anyone,” W-W head coach Bill MacDonald said. “The experience and improvement from this year should pay off with success next year.”

Trailing 2-0, in the first period, Weston-Wayland started to control the play, though Waltham expanded the lead to 3-0 midway through the second stanza. After that goal, however, W-W’s hard work finally paid off, as Katherine Goguen and junior captain Jess Greenwood both tallied to make it 3-2.

A nice feed by Cara Lembo to Goguen set up the first strike. Goguen delivered a strong wrist shot that banked in to the short side. Greenwood followed with a rush from the left side and ripped a shot from in close that Waltham goalie Ronelle LeBlanc blocked, but couldn’t control. Greenwood pounced on the loose puck and went top shelf to cut the deficit to one.

The Hawks, though, got some insurance with a goal in the final frame, though Weston-Wayland outshot Waltham, 7-3. W-W pulled its goalie with 1:16 left, and had a number of chances, but the Hawks held on to improve their season record to 6-8. W-W fell to 0-13-1.

Weston-Wayland’s Kaitlyn Gordon got the start in net, replacing regular starter Andrea Defina. Gordon had some tough luck early on as Waltham's Michelle Volleman scored on a well-placed wrist shot from high in the slot just one minute into the game. Waltham’s second strike came after the Hawks won a faceoff in the W-W zone. Center Victoria DiBlasi drew the puck to Michelle Kudlate, who scored on a backhander to the far side through a screen in front.  DiBlasi then tallied in the second frame, before Weston-Wayland made its surge.