BRUNSWICK

The Mt. Ararat girls hockey team scored two goals late in the third period that put the Eagles within shouting distance of making it a whole new game, but the Cheverus Stags (1-1) were able to hold on for a 5-3 win on Friday night at Bowdoin College’s Sidney J. Watson Arena in high school action.

“I think we finally saw in the third period that they understand that they can get the job done,” Mt. Ararat head coach Ron Hutchins said after the game. “They know that if they work hard and work together … I mean in that third period they were working the puck amongst themselves and passing back and forth, really putting it together.”

The Eagles (0-2) appeared to have set the tone early when they scored just 15 seconds into the game. Sophomore Isa Blessington was fed a pass into the middle lane from captain Kiely Hetherington and was able to drill a shot through the fivehole and into the back of the net to put the Eagles up 1-0.

Two minutes later the Stags were finding their stride and started firing shot after shot on Eagles goaltender Alison Nolan, who ended the night with 32 saves.

With 7:40 remaining in the first period, Cheverus knotted the game up at one when Jill Hannigan tossed a rebound off of Nolan to her teammate Elizabeth Hodgkins, who dumped the puck into the right side.

The Stags weren’t finished as 1:30 later Hannigan soared around the back of the net and wrapped one in with no chance for Nolan to react, putting her team up 2- 1.

“Whether it was too much turkey, too much salt, we had girls getting sick on the bench,” Hutchins said of his team’s early fatigue. “Every time I wanted to do a line change I had someone getting sick.”

Entering into the second period, the Eagles’ defense had difficulty adjusting to Hannigan’s quickness as she once again took the puck up ice and fired a laser beam of a shot from just inside the blue line to increase the Stags lead to two, 3-1.

After a fourth goal from Cheverus’ Caroline Ray (Maria Collins assist), Mt. Ararat appeared to gain some life as Mikaila Cloutier fired a shot on net from the face-off circle, but Stags goaltender Taylor Courtois swatted the puck out of harms way.

With 53 seconds remaining, Erin Tome tried to add to the Eagles scoresheet with a one-on-one opportunity. It appeared that her shot had the chance to go in when the puck was deflected off Courtois’ pads, but the keeper was able to snag it on the other side with her glove, holding her team’s 4-1 lead through two periods.

With 6:30 remaining in regulation and the Eagles down 5-1 after yet another Cheverus goal, Hetherington found the middle lane, scooping up a loose puck placed by Kayla Richardson and pushed it toward goal with no one around but the goalie. A cut move to the right was enough to draw Courtois out of goal and allow Hetherington to bury the shot, making it 5-2.

Just under two minutes later, Cloutier skated into a deflected puck and tucked it in behind the goalie to make it 5-3.

However, the Stags defense was able to control the remainder of the game and hold on to the lead for their first win of the season, while the Eagles have dropped their first two.

“We’re still straddled with the problem of being able to play two lines competitively,” Hutchins said. “I think by the time we’re able to get through Christmas break we’re going to be looking at a different team, running three lines and having some fresher legs.”

Though the end result didn’t end in the favor of the Eagles, Hutchins says the third period of Friday’s game will be a model heading into this week’s practice.

“We go into practice (this) week building off of what we just saw,” he said. “Hard work and conditioning, working the puck back and forth, communicating and attacking the net.”

The Eagles will return to action on Friday, hosting Winslow at 6:45 p.m.