Woburn girls show mettle
BELMONT — From the opening puck drop, Woburn showed why it is a defending co-state champion with domination in the tempo as well as the offensive zones on Wednesday night.
With three tallies in the first half, the Tanners cruised to a 4-0 victory over Middlesex League opponent Belmont at Viglirolo Rink.
“I was very, very happy with the way the girls played today,” said coach Steve Kennedy.
“With this season, we are looking for a chance to come out here and have a lot of fun.
That has been priority number one for us.”
Freshman Taylor Buckley got the scoring going as she scored in front of the net for a 1-0 lead for Woburn (5-1-1) with just 3:22 gone in the half.
Junior ML Pineros scored to make it 2-0 just over four minutes later before eighth grader Madelyn Soderquist scored off a Pineros pass to put the Tanners in from 3-0 after 22:30 minutes of action that saw a 23-1 shot differential for Woburn.
“That’s a tribute to the leadership on the team,” said Kennedy about the ability of the eighth graders to mesh with the high schoolers this season. “The captains and the entire senior class are really making sure that despite the fact that we aren’t in a locker room and despite the fact that there are no typical real bonding events that everyone feels welcome and there is real cohesion on the team.”
The second half was more of the same as the Tanners outshot Belmont (3-1-3), 17-2, for a 40-3 advantage throughout the contest with junior Alyssa Wackrow getting the shutout.
“Alyssa has been solid for us all year,” Kennedy said. “She deserves everything (the team) can give her in terms of solid defense and the hard play in front of the net.”
Senior Kelsey Ficociello added the fourth score for Woburn with 3:32 remaining off of senior Bella Shaw’s second assist of the night.
The two teams will faceoff again next Wednesday at O’Brien Rink in Woburn at 4:30 p.m.