YARMOUTH — The Yarmouth/Freeport Clippers handed Brunswick its third loss of the early season in girls hockey, 2-0, on Saturday at Travis Roy Arena.
The Clippers limited the offensive chances for the Dragons, while goaltender Allie Perrotta was sharp when needed for a 13-save shutout.
“She stayed focus which is great,” said Clippers coach Megan Vaughan, whose squad host Greely/Gray-New Gloucester on Thursday at 7 p.m. “She was really on top of it tonight.”
“You’ve got to give credit to Yarmouth,” said Brunswick coach Mike Routhier. “They played pretty good defense. We couldn’t muster a lot of offensive chances, and they protect the net pretty well.”
The Clippers pushed the pace of the game early on, leading to a Brunswick penalty 1:47 into the game after extended offensive zone time. Dragons goalie Nadia Leiner turned the Clippers away on the power-play chance. Leiner denied a Sophie Newberg drive from the blue line with her pad, and later shut the door on Lydia Guay as she snuck in alone behind the defense.
Brunswick struggled to get quality shots and test Perrotta in the opening frame. Beth Labbe had the best opportunity for the Dragons, cutting to the middle and forcing Perrotta into a reflex save with her blocker. Despite the lack of chances, Leiner withstood the Clipper pressure and kept them off the board with seven saves in the first period.
“(Leiner’s) been playing well for us pretty much all year,” said Routhier. “She’s been keeping us in games we just need to give her more support.”
The Clippers finally broke through with about two minutes gone in the second period. Paige Rinaldi’s shot led to a scramble in front for the rebound, and Lilly Weinrich tucked it away before the Dragons were able to clear.
The Dragons settled in after the goal and produced some of their best offensive chances. Dragon pressure in the offensive zone led to a Shea Sullivan shot from the point that Perrotta was able to track through a screen for the save.
Brunswick’s best bid for a goal came late in the second frame as Labbe found Elena Palmer alone in front, but Perrotta came up with a pad save. Leiner answered with a key save of her own to keep the Dragons within a goal. Guay fed Olivia Bradford a pass in the high slot, but Leiner kicked away the one-time shot.
Routhier was happy with his team’s effort in the second.
“The big piece is the defensive structure,” he said. “I thought that was coming along a lot better as far as players knowing where they need to be on the ice.”
“They have a couple really good skaters who know how to move the puck,” said Vaughan. “They gave us a run for our money, they’re pretty quick.”
Brunswick had a chance to even the game early in the third period on the power play. Despite some good puck movement from Palmer, Labbe and Greta White, the Dragons were unable to capitalize.
For the Clippers, Bradford struck midway through the period on a nice individual play. With Brunswick pressuring for the tying goal, Bradford beat everyone to a missed pass in front of the Yarmouth/Freeport net, going the length of the ice and beating Leiner low to put the Clippers up by two. The insurance goal was the first tally for the freshman.
“First varsity goal, she was very excited about it,” said Vaughan. “She’s been trying really hard to put that puck in the net.”
The Clippers held on for the 2-0 win, with Perrotta making five saves in the final frame. Yarmouth-Freeport improved to 2-1, while Brunswick fell to 0-3.
Leiner made 17 saves for the Dragons, who will look to bounce back at home against Portland/Deering today (5:15 p.m.)
“Probably the biggest deficiency we need to continue working on is just getting smarter on pucks,” said Routhier. “Either getting pucks in, or getting pucks out, and getting pucks on net. Overall, the energy’s there, the enthusiasm’s there. As long as that’s there it will work in our favor.”
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