Girls Hockey Wins First Game Of Season Following Last Second Goal

It has been a long season for Nantucket's girls hockey team. They have dealt with injuries and a difficult schedule, and found themselves winless with just three games to go entering the weekend.

On Saturday, despite losing 2-1 to the West/East Bridgewater Wild Vikings at home, the Whalers felt good about their game and were finally healthy with two games to play. They outshot the Wild Vikings 45-13 in that game and had an opportunity to play them again in Bridgewater on Sunday. Nantucket won the game 3-2 following a goal by junior forward Emerson Pekarcik with under five seconds to go in regulation to finally erase the zero in the win column.

"It is so great to see these girls be rewarded for all the hard work and effort they have put in this season," head coach Liz Collins said. "I think on Saturday they realized that this was a team they could compete with and we were confident going into (Sunday) that we could win. It is mentally draining to lose these games and hard to go into games believing you can win when you keep losing. But we were able to overcome that and their performances all weekend showed that we had confidence in our ability to go out there, compete, and have a great shot at that first win."

Pekarcik had Nantucket's only goal in their 2-1 loss on Saturday, but had several other high quality chances that she just couldn't put past the goal line.

On Sunday it was junior center Bailey Lower leading the way for the Whalers. Lower had two goals, The first was a shorthanded goal where Lower won the face-off and used her own speed to create a great scoring chance and beat the goalie five-hole.

The second goal came on the power play off of a nice shot that beat the WEB goalie below the blocker. Lower now has a team-high nine goals and 11 points this season.

As the final seconds came off the clock, eighth grade defenseman Mia Beaudette (two assists on Sunday) put the puck on net and it got to Pekarcik, who was camped in front of the net looking for a rebound. Following a scramble for the loose puck, Pekarcik was able to push it past the Wild Viking's goalie to give her team a 3-2 lead and followed it with a creative rowing celebrating at center ice.

"I thought we had some poor shot selection on Saturday despite all of the shots," Collins said "But on Sunday I loved how we just didn't give up. We scored first and then they answer, but no one put their heads down. They showed some mental toughness. And they never gave up Saturday either. But we were healthy for the first time and had a full lineup for the first time in a while. We haven't had a full, healthy team since that Barnstable game (4-3 loss)."

Nantucket has one more game remaining on their schedule and it is against the Dennis-Yarmouth Dolphins (3-16) on the island. DY beat Nantucket 7-0 earlier this season, but the Whalers were without Lower and Pekarcik.

"The girls are excited to get another shot at DY and I believe in them and their ability to go out there and play a much more competitive game than we did last time," Collins said. "Hopefully we can finish the season with a second straight win.

SIDENOTE:

The Whalers honored their only senior on Saturday, Lydia Johnson, with her family in attendance. The picture below is Johnson with her parents and brothers. The photo is by Chris Tran.

The picture below is of Johnson with four of her coaches, including Collins to Johnson's left. The photo is by Chris Tran.