RAYNHAM – It has been a season of firsts and this weekend was no different as the first class of Girls Varsity All-Stars took part in their inaugural New England Future Stars All-Star Weekend at the Raynham IcePlex on Sunday. When the dust had settled, it was the North Shore Stingrays winning the Skills Challenge and the Black All-Stars prevailing over White, 4-2.
In a testament to how tight the competition has been in the first season of Girls Varsity play, the Stingrays have struggled to string wins together, but still proved most skilled on Sunday. They did not do so, however, without a little drama first.
Following the competition’s three events, three teams were tied atop the leader board with five points, setting the stage for a tie breaking Fastest Skater race. Along with the Stingrays, who scored their points with a first place finish in the Agility Race and a second in the Team Relay, the Marlboro Thunder (first in Target Shooting, second in Agility Race) and Boston Brahmas (first in Team Relay, second in Target Shooting) also advanced to the one lap race for all the bragging right.
With teammates Erika Siegel, Rachel Tammaro and Halle Livermore cheering her on, Siyeon Lee completed the bonus lap in 0:16.66 to deliver the win to North Shore. The Thunder and Sabercats came in behind with times of 0:17.57 and 0:17.91, respectively, to finish the Skills Challenge in second and third places.
As in the Girls U14 incarnation earlier in the day in Raynham, defense and goaltending was prevalent throughout the opening half of the Girls Varsity All-Star Game. Ashleigh Marini of the Brahmas, who started in net for White, and Sabercats goaltender Melissa Crone, who got the starting nod for Black, coming out strong, each yielding just once in their 25-minutes of play.
In addition to Marini, the Brahmas play was prevalent in the first half, Boston teammates Amy Le and Kellie Popkin capitalizing on a 2-on-1 opportunity just before the midpoint of the half for the game’s first lead; Popkin drawing the defender over before feeding Le to wrist the goal home.
With the lead in hand and their strength on the defensive end, White looked as though they were going to make it to the halftime break with the lead, but a great play by Stingrays defender Julianna Kennedy peeling off the half boards to gave her a clean look and chance to sneak one past Marini for the equalizer with about three minutes remaining in the half.
Each team tallied another early in the second to up the score to 2-2, Black taking a 2-1 lead on a goal by Cassidhe Wozniak of the Thunder, then Helen Huang of the Brahmas getting White back to even with the first of her two points in the game. The back-and-forth game, however, began to take a different tone as the second half wore on.
As time grew thin, so seemingly did the White All-Stars and Black took advantage of the tiring team. Kennedy notched her second of the game with just over seven minutes remaining, firing a shot that somehow found its way to the back of the net for the 3-2 Black lead. The Marlboro line of Wozniak, Lisa Spagnuolo and Morgan Perry then combined for a second time in the contest just past the 20-minute mark for the 4-2 advantage.
They were unable to capitalize on the empty net, but Black had still put themselves at length from their opponent and secured the 4-2 victory.
With her two-goal effort to lead the Black offense, Kennedy was named First Star of the Game, while Spagnuolo’s two-assist effort for Black garnered Third Star of the Game honors. Huang went home as Second Star of the Game.
