Deerfield Girls Hockey made the trek to Pomfret today to compete for the Hastings Cup, awarded annually to the winner of the DA/Pomfret game in honor of Brad Hastings, the first girls hockey coach at both schools. This game also served as one of four “Pride Tape” games played at Pomfret this winter, aiming to support the GSA’s celebration of “No Name Calling Week” and raise funds for the Trevor Project. Both teams taped their sticks with rainbow tape, and after a group photo at center ice, both teams got down to business. Deerfield was feeling particularly motivated to start the game thanks to a stirring pump up speech delivered via audio recording from injured player Elizabeth Hernberg ’18.
Despite dominating possession in the first period, and firing 15 shots on net, we went into the locker room tied 0-0. We knew that we needed to pick up our urgency and intensity, and started the second period determined to set the tone and pace for the rest of the game. Ellia Chiang ’21 opened the scoring on the first shift, taking a feed from Christina Halloran ’20 and slipping the puck under the Pomfret goalie’s arm. Raegan Hill ’19 doubled our lead on the very next shift, taking a pass from Haley Sundstrom ’21, streaking into the zone, and depositing a beautiful shot top corner. Erin DeMarco ’19 scored our third goal of the period, picking up the puck at center ice, splitting two defenders, and then roofing the puck with a Pomfret defender all over her. In the third period, we were determined not the let our foot off the gas pedal, and all four lines stepped up and created good chances. Emma Visnapuu ’21 scored the first goal of her Deerfield career off of a nice pass from Brenna Hoar ’18, and then Mary Edmonds ’19 took a feed from Deirdre Mullowney ’19 on the power play, and blasted a shot into the net. Halloran finished the scoring on a beautiful move in alone in front of the net, and Ellie Wenners ’21 and Erin Howe ’20 had near misses in close. Shots were 42-5 on the afternoon, with Jordan Manning ’19 earning the shutout in goal. Everyone played well today, and we’ll look the carry the momentum forward against Andover on Saturday. Thank you to Ms. Hayes-Golding and Ms. Insuik for making the long trip to support the team, and to the Emersons for the wraps, chips, drinks, and desserts after the game.