It was a Classic victory.

Following a good game plan that they executed with focused emotion and vigorous effort, the University School co-op girls’ hockey team players won the USM Girls Hockey Classic Tournament Saturday by defeating the Lakeshore Lightning co-op 7-1.

Playing their third game in the round robin tournament, the Wildcats never trailed.  They out shot Lakeshore 42-15.  It was the seventh day of Hanukkah, and the Wildcats honored the Festival of Lights holiday by lighting the proverbial goal lamp behind Erin Connolly, the Lightning’s senior goalie, seven times. Senior Caitlin McBride and junior Nicole Unsworth each scored two goals while junior Rachel Hoge, and freshmen Karly Lamoreaux and Gaby Turer each scored one.  Freshman goaltender Marie Detert made 14 saves for the victorious Wildcats.

The Wildcats scored their first goal while playing short-handed.  In the USM zone, Lamoreaux got the puck and iced it.  Lamoreaux then changed.  Unsworth stayed on the ice and chased the retreating Lakeshore players who had gone back into their own zone for the puck.  Unsworth’s forechecking pressure on the right side forced a Lakeshore player to quickly pass the puck away.  McBride, who had replaced Lamoreaux, intercepted the errant pass near the Lakeshore blue line.  She skated in. As she was falling from being checked, she slid the puck across the low slot to Unworth. Without hesitation, Unsworth one-timed a shot into the net at 14:19.

Lakeshore tied the game early in the second period.  The Lightning were on the power play. As the power play ended, they got the puck into the USM zone where senior Hayley Brown got it along the left boards. Brown skated behind the net with a defenseman chasing her.  As the defensman hit her, Brown shoveled a pass into the slot where senior Emily Gabel stood unguarded.  Gabel pulled the puck to the left and slipped it past Detert for the goal at 5:35.

It did not take long for the Wildcats to reassert themselves.  Covering the point while a defenseman pinched, freshman Lexi Epperson stopped a Lightning clearing attempt and flicked the puck down the left boards to freshman Hannah Neudorfer. Neudorfer skated into the left circle and centered the puck to Lamoreaux who was moving toward the net.  Lamoreaux stickhandled in closer.  She pulled the puck to the left forcing Connolly to drop.  Lamoreaux then swept to the right.  Like she was spearing a carp, she jammed the puck into the open five-hole at 6:01.

The Wildcats took control of the game.  They played well defensively, allowing only four other shots on goal in the period, all of which Detert handled with ease.  The Wildcats took 18 shots themselves, but the scored stayed at 2-1 until the last minutes of the second period when the Wildcats scored two more. 

USM went ahead 3-2 at 15:44 on a power play goal.  As the Wildcats moved the puck in the Lakeshore zone, Unsworth got it, skated with it down the left boards, then reversed and headed toward the blue line.  She sent a cross-ice pass to sophomore defenseman Hannah Gold at the fat point.  Gold moved it across the blue line to her partner, senior Hannah Koniar.  Koniar returned it to Unsworth on the left mid-boards.  Unsworth saw a seam and skated through it into the slot.  As the Lightning players closed in trying to stop her, she ripped a wrist shot past a defenseman who was blocking Connolly’s view.  The goalie never saw the puck until she tuned to pull it away from the goal.

McBride scored the Wildcats’ fourth goal just over a minute later.  Freshman Libby Hennelly started the play by sending a D-to-D pass to Koniar behind the USM net.  Koniar swirled into the left corner to avoid a forechecker.  Unsworth came back to help and gained control of the puck.  She took off like a delivery truck and skated the length of the ice.  As she moved into the left circle in the Lakeshore zone, she deftly distracted a defenseman with her stickhandling and moved right around her.  As she neared the crease, she fired a low shot.  The rebound came out into the slot to McBride who whipped it past Connolly with just 5 seconds left in the period.  

The Wildcats had a solid lead, and they firmed it even further in the third period, during which they out shot the Lightning 11-6 and put three of those shots past Connolly.

The first of the third period goals for USM came just 1:19 into the period. Taking a faceoff in Lakeshore’s right circle, sophomore Sophie Kobylinski pushed the puck into the corner and sped after it.  She tipped it to junior Cameil Bowler who sent it back to the point to Hoge.  Hoge stepped in and took a shot toward a crowd of players in front of Connolly.  The puck glanced off a defenseman and past the dismayed goalie.

The Wildcats scored again at 10:47.  As the Wildcats cycled in the Lakeshore zone, the puck went to freshman defenseman Michaela Fritz who took a shot from the center of the blue line as a clog of players merged like heavy traffic in front of the net.  Connolly dropped to her knees to stop the shot near the right post  Turer grabbed the puck away, turned and backhanded a pass to the far side post where Unsworth was perched like a cat waiting to pounce.  Unsworth swiftly swept the puck into the wide opening, adding to USM’s lead.

The Lightning had an opportunity to decrease the goal margin when Brown got the puck in the Lakeshore zone and sent a long pass to Gabel who had skated into center ice behind the USM defense.  Gabel skated in on a breakaway.  She gave a head fake, but Detert was unflappable, and the goaltender calmly caught Gabel’s shot to suppress the threat.

The Wildcats finished the afternoon’s scoring late in the third period.  Once again the Wildcats cycled the puck in the Lakeshore end.  Unsworth moved the puck to McBride down low.  In turn, McBride passed it out to Turer on the opposite side of the net.  Like a grave digger, Turer buried her shot at 14:25.

After the game, Jake Haury, USM’s head coach, said, “We’re doing very well right now.  We gave good effort for three periods today.  The girls have friends on Lakeshore’s team, so there was a lot of emotion going into the game.  Wwe harnessed it well.   We exhibited hard work and determination.  It was a good step forward.  The girls have learned a lot in the last three weeks and it’s paying off.”

The win improved USM’s record to 5-1-1. The Wildcats also have a 1-0-1 record in the Eastern Shores Conference.  Lakeshore’s record dropped to 3-5.  The Wildcats play Sun Prairie in a non-conference game on Friday, December 18th at USM at 7:00 pm.