Deerfield hit the road this afternoon to take on a solid Pomfret squad. The winner of the annual DA/Pomfret game is awarded the Hastings Cup, named after Brad Hastings, former Dean of Students at Deerfield and Head of School at Pomfret, who was the first Head Girls Varsity Hockey coach in both programs’ history. Though the girls were eager to win the Cup back, we got off to a sluggish start in the first period. Our passes were not crisp, we were missing connections in the neutral zone, and our feet seemed planted to the ice. Unsurprisingly, Pomfret got on the board first, capitalizing on a rebound opportunity off of a shot from the point. We tied the score early in the second, however, as we worked the puck down low before a Jenna Greenbaum ’17 shot went off a Pomfret defenseman and into the back of the net. Ali Dougal ’18 earned the assist on the play. The home team benefited from a lucky bounce of their own a few minutes later, as a shot off of the end boards landed directly on a Pomfret stick in front of the net, and they took a 2-1 lead into the third period. We knew that we would have be play a whole lot harder in order to earn the victory, and to the team’s credit we came out flying in the third period. Mae Emerson ’19 tied the score about halfway through the period, taking a pass from Taylor Morash ’16 and sniping the puck top corner from the wing. We kept pressing, and a strong forecheck by Meghan Halloran ’17 and Mary Edmonds ’19 popped the puck out to Greenbaum. Her hard shot was stopped initially, but Edmonds was right there to bang home the rebound. Strong defensive play kept the Pomfret attack at bay, and we withstood some tense final seconds to secure the 3-2 victory. Emily Yue ’16 played well with 23 saves, and Katherine Goguen ’16 had a particularly strong third period, helping to rally her teammates both on and off the ice. Huge thanks to Mrs. Lineberry for the unbelievable spread of chili, chips, muffins, fruit, vegetables and drinks after the game, and to the Dougals and Gilberts for the sweet treats. Next up is a big game at Andover on Saturday.