Deerfield Girls Varsity Hockey took on a strong Loomis squad at home on Wednesday afternoon. This was our first game in the new rink, and emotions were running high as we aimed to start this new era of Deerfield Hockey off on the right foot. Unfortunately, we came out fairly flat in the first period. Both our legs and heads seemed sluggish, and our work rate was not up to our high standards. We took three penalties this period (five total in the game), and as a result never really got into a rhythm in any zone. Though we started the second period with better energy, including a stifling penalty kill, Loomis got on the board first with a shot from the tops of the circle. The momentum began to swing however, as we found our legs, played with urgency, and began to dictate the pace of play. The ice started to tilt in our favor, and our forecheck in particular created fits for the Loomis defense. We started the third period confident that our hard work would pay off, and, sure enough, Ali Fujiyoshi ’19 found a streaking Christina Halloran ’20, who beat the defense and then faked out the Loomis goalie. Christina’s tally will go down in history as the first official Deerfield goal scored in the new barn! We kept the pressure on for the rest of the period, and had a few good looks (21 total shots on the day), but ultimately the game ended in a 1-1 tie. A hard-fought game for sure, and while we are proud of our resilience and effort down the stretch, we recognize that we must play at our pace for a full three periods. The whole team contributed tonight, but it is worth highlighting the play of Liv Mikesell ’20 in goal (26 saves), and our penalty killers who were a perfect 5/5 on the afternoon (Deirdre Mullowney ’19, Erin DeMarco ’19, Ali Fujiyoshi ’19, Aurora Devereaux ’20, Mary Edmonds ’19, Halloran, Mae Emerson ’19, Lisa Ito-Bagshaw ’21 and Ellia Chiang ’21). Haley Sundstrom ’21 had a strong game at forward, and both Erin Howe ’20 and Kelly Howe ’22 were consistently excellent on the forecheck. We send well wishes to the Loomis forward who was injured during the second period, and hope that she is able to return to the ice soon. Next up for the Big Green is a trip to Nobles on Friday night!