Deerfield Girls Varsity Hockey opened the season on Friday night at home against a solid Vermont Academy squad. With twelve of the twenty players dressed for the game new to Deerfield, including eight freshmen, we knew that there would be growing pains, but there is a great deal of potential on this young team. The first period was less than stellar, as we struggled to contain our nerves & excitement and had trouble taking away time and space in the defensive zone. Vermont Academy got on the board first, but we tied the game with less than a minute to play in the period when Mary Edmonds ’19 scored the first goal of her Deerfield career off of a 2 vs. 1 break with captain Taylor Morash ’16, who earned the assist on the play. The second period saw both teams earn power play opportunities, and our penalty killers, particularly Elliot Gilbert ’16, Isabel Perry ’16, captain Meghan Halloran ’17 and Deirdre Mullowney ’19, did a nice job of thwarting the Vermont Academy attack. Deerfield scored the only goal of the second period, as Katherine Goguen ’16 put a puck on net from the point that Gilbert eventually flipped into the goal. Mae Emerson ’19 also earned an assist on the play. Unfortunately, another failure to step up and take the body led to the visitors tying the score early in the third period. An injury to Gilbert, who fell victim to a devastating check into the boards early in the third period, forced us to mix up our lines, but the girls responded with a ton of energy and heart. The winning goal came off of the stick of Brenna Hoar ’18 (the first of her Deerfield career), with assists going to Edmonds and Erin DeMarco ’19. Jordan Manning ’19, playing in place of injured captain Emily Yue ’16, stepped up big time in goal with 18 saves, while Deerfield had 29 shots on the visitors’ net. Many thanks to the Yues and Dougals for the pizza, salad and fruit after the game, and to the Greenbaums for the awesome winter hats. Also, a huge shout out to the many students and faculty members who came out to support this team. We had never experienced such a raucous, enthusiastic, and supportive crowd, and this certainly gave us a much needed boost.