The girls varsity high school hockey team, like the boys, broke the ice on the 2014-15 season with a rigorous set of pre-season scrimmages. The girls played Division 2 semifinalists Sandwich and Division 1 Barnstable Saturday at the John Gallo Arena in Bourne before finishing up the weekend Sunday at home against D1 Needham and Lincoln-Sudbury.
Vineyard coach John Fiorito has a veteran team, led by senior co-captains Aubrey Ashmun, Erin Hegarty, Sydney Davies, and Olivia Ogden. All are four-year players. Three additional seniors are forwards Megan Hurley and Kiara Vought, along with defenseman Katrina Lakis. Junior Belle Dinning is a consistent scoring threat and is joined on the roster by fellow 11th graders Meg Burke, Courtney Howell, and Jackie Hegarty. Sophomores include Kylie Hatt, Julia Bettencourt, Julia Levesque, Ellie Hanjian, and newcomer Natalija Lakis. Freshman Sage Araujo is the other new face on the team.
“We have a veteran laden team, which I think goes a long way at this level,” Vineyard coach John Fiorito said. “We’re strong down the middle with our defense, our centers, and our goaltending.”
Saturday in Bourne, the Vineyarders participated in a jamboree hosted and organized by Sandwich High coach Steve Noll, benefitting Children’s Cove, a facility offering support to abused children from the Cape and Islands. The Vineyard girls team donated $100 to the charity.
The girls opened play against Sandwich. The Blue Knights tallied the only two goals, but the Vineyarders played well, particularly on defense and in goal, which would remain a constant throughout the weekend.
M.V. were even better in the second scrimmage against a combination lineup of Barnstable varsity and jayvee players. The Purple outscored the Red Raiders, 4-0. Aubrey Ashmun notched a hat trick and Belle Dinning tallied once.
The Vineyarders returned home and played back-to-back scrimmages Sunday morning and afternoon. Contrasting with the boys scrimmages, which were made up of two periods of varying lengths, both girls contests were broken up into the regular season standard three periods of 15 minutes each.
First up were the Needham Rockets. The visitors enjoyed the majority of possession throughout the first period, but the Vineyard defense did an excellent job of blocking shots and limiting quality scoring chances. Goalie Jackie Hegarty was sharp, repeatedly covering the puck or directing shots away from the crease.
The teams traded goals in the second period. Belle Dinning scored for the Vineyard, stretching to keep the puck inside the blueline before skating into the slot and lifting a wrister into the top right corner.
Midway through the period, Jackie Hegarty turned over the goaltending duties to Julia Bettencourt, who also played well. Although Needham would tally twice in the final period, once on a rebound and again on a deflection off a Vineyard skate, Bettencourt turned aside four shots at point blank range, three in a rapid fire flurry at the right post.
The girls got a 10-minute break, then turned around and ended the hockey weekend with an excellent showing against the Lincoln-Sudbury Warriors. The hosts peppered the Warrior goal with shots throughout the first period. Aubrey Ashmun had the best scoring chance by either team, clanging a 20-footer off the crossbar with 2:50 gone on the clock.
Lincoln-Sudbury pressured more as the scrimmage wore on but the Vineyard defense again was superb in limiting quality shots. Time and again goalies — first Jackie Hegarty, then Julia Bettencourt — caught or covered up any loose pucks. Bettencourt made the save of the game late in the second period, doing the splits to rob a Warrior shooter at the left post.
“Julia and Jackie are both probably number one goalies,” Coach Fiorito said. “They played great.”
Never lacking in excitement, the scrimmage remained scoreless until the puck took an unfortunate bounce for the Vineyarders with 4:36 left in the final period. After failing on a breakaway attempt, a Warrior forward skated behind the Vineyard goal and flipped the puck into the crease, where it hit a skate and trickled into the net. Lincoln-Sudbury added a second goal into the empty net with four ticks left to close out the day.
“We played great,” Coach Fiorito said after the final whistle. “We played four scrimmages in two days against all good teams. We really held our own. We couldn’t be happier.”
The girls open the regular season on home ice, Saturday at 5 pm against Brookline. The 14th annual Nan Rheault Invitational tournament is set for Saturday and Sunday, January 17–18. M.V. will skate against archrivals Scituate at 7 pm on opening night. Peabody and Quincy fill out the field. The Vineyarders close out the regular season at home on Thursday, February 19, at 4:30 pm against Southeastern Mass Girls Hockey League rival Marshfield.