HYANNIS — At first blush, Falmouth appeared to have the upper hand.
Clipper defenseman Kendall Stouffer fired the puck past Barnstable High goalie Olivia Sollows just six minutes into a hectic, hard-hitting affair last night at the Hyannis Youth and Community Center, but it was Sollows whose nerves would settle and it would be Barnstable that would skate away victoriously at the end.
The host Red Raiders (2-0) defeated the previously unbeaten Falmouth Clippers, 3-1. Falmouth now stands at 4-1-1 on the season.
Stouffer’s goal was assisted by Maggie MacDonald, and the period would end with Falmouth ahead, 1-0. In that period, the Clippers literally peppered Sollows with shots on goal – Falmouth had 10 and Barnstable only six in the first period – while Maddie Scavotto seemed to be ready to turn away anything that came her way at the other end of the ice.
Calmly and collectively, Barnstable head coach Peter Nugnes directed his troops. Calmly and Collectively, Sollows turned away shot after shot, including, it seemed, a half-dozen alone from Falmouth’s spitfire Madison Haberl.
But in the second period, everything changed.
Enter Barnstable junior forward Callie Rogorzenski. As if she had been given a direct, specific mission to take control of the game into her own hands, Rogorzenski pounded the puck at Scavotto with an unrelenting flurry of shots. One shot – save! Two shots? Save, Scavotto! And on shot number three just 1:04 elapsed on the clock… score !
Rogorzenski tied the game at 1-1, assisted by sophomore forward Meghan Moore and from that moment forward the entire period belonged to the Red Raiders. Sollows – who would finish the night with 25 saves – was impressive. So, too, was her goal-scoring counterpart. With just 4:05 left in the period, Rogorzenski stole a puck tipped by sophomore Danielle Derosier at mid-ice and raced toward Scavotto alone. Jackpot! Rogorzenski fired it past the usually stellar but now stunned Clipper goalie and it would prove to be the eventual game-winner. Now armed with a 2-1 lead, Barnstable rode the wave of adrenaline and ramped up the pressure even more. Scavotto, in the next minute, turned away a barrage of Red Raider shots.
But the puck, quite simply, would not seem to leave the Falmouth end. With Coach Nugnes shouting “Keep your legs moving” and encouraging his girls at every turn with such compliments as “way to play tough” and “way to pressure the puck,” the energy from the home bench seemed almost palpable.
Just over one minute had passed when starting left win Olivia Pearsall, a sophomore, stuffed the puck home into the net amidst a mad scramble of skates in Scavotto’s crease. The Red Raiders now led, 3-1. (Lindsey Phelan notched the assist).
It would be all Barnstable would need to win.
The Red Raiders will be tested once again on New Year’s Eve (2:00 pm) when they hit the road to face the Duxbury Green Dragons.
The Clippers will face Cathedral High School today at 2:15 pm at the Falmouth Ice Arena.
— Sean Walsh is the sports editor for www.capecod.com. His email is [email protected]. Follow him on Twitter @coachwalshccbm.