RAYNHAM – With a jam atop the division’s standings for much the latter half of the season, it was tough to determine who was the best Squirt team throughout the regular season? There was, however, no doubt who the better team was on the season’s final day, the Squirt North Shore Stingrays posting a 12-2 victory over the South Middlesex Coyotes to capture the 2015 New England Future Stars Squirt Gold Cup Championship.
The Coyotes had been riding high through much of the season in their attempt to repeat as Squirt Gold Cup Champions – a near perfect 10-2-0 and regular season title, the division’s best defense, second best offense – but they were off their game on Sunday, came out slowly and the Stingrays wasted little time taking advantage. Just 3:04 in North Shore had the game’s first lead on a goal by Manny Alvarez-Segee.
“The Coyotes had our number all year, even the last couple of years,” Stingrays coach Bill Mertz. “Sticking together [we] really pulled it out. I’m really proud of the way they played.”
The Stingrays were all over the Coyotes, but were only able to net a pair in the game’s opening period, Ty Wood joining Alvarez-Segee on the score sheet with his tally at 8:08. It was not until the second things really took off for an offensive that has been unstoppable of late, a couple of monster victories down the stretch in the regular season upping their goals per game average to more than 12.
“The biggest thing with us is playing as a team,” Mertz said of his team’s recent offensive resurgence. “Beginning of the year, a lot of individual effort. Worked a lot with them during the year on working together as a team, winning together as a team. That’s pretty much what carried through the last couple of weeks.”
For a brief moment it seemed as though the game may turn for the Coyotes, Dillion O’Reilly cutting South Middlesex’s deficit to 2-1 at 1:21 of the second. The lead was back to two, however, at 4:44 on a Jack Mertz tally, which also started a run of four-unanswered by the Stingrays to close out the middle period with a 6-1 lead.
Their lead already seemed safe, but much as the team themselves had aged well and improved over time, North Shore closed strong in the championship match. The 6-1 score doubling on both sides in the game’s final period as the unstoppable monster continued to roll. The Squirt Stingrays hoisting the team’s first NEFS championship trophy with a 12-2 Gold Cup win.
“[Three] years ago we started, we were probably the youngest team in the league,” said the Stingrays coach. “…I think this is the result of three years of hard work for them.
“I’m just proud of the way they came together.”
The North Shore juggernaut closed out their title win with six Stingrays credited with multiple point efforts, led by game-high’s in goals, assists and points from Daniel Storella (4G, 3A). Mertz (2G, 3A) and Alvarez-Segee (2G, 2A) seconded Storella’s effort, while Elizabeth MacDonald backstopped the championship in net for the Stingrays.
O’Reilly and Laz Giardina were each credited with a goal-scoring effort for the Coyotes.
