Juliana Strother’s shutout led the University School co-op girls’ hockey team to a 3-0 victory over Appleton United in an Eastern Shores Conference game played on Tuesday, January 2nd at USM.

Strother, a senior, held the Wildcats in the game in the first period, stopping several point- blank shots.  She continued to play well in the final two periods and prevented all 9 shots that the Appleton players took from finding the netting.

“We did not play well in the first period,” said Dan Carey, USM’s head coach.  “I reminded the girls that our tenets for success are teamwork and discipline.  We played better in the second and third periods and got the win.”

According to the score sheet, the Wildcats outshot their visitors in the first period, but Appleton’s scoring opportunities were better the scoreless frame.

The Wildcats excised the lethargy they displayed early on with a preferable team purpose in the second period.  They forechecked with energy and outshot Appleton 15-1 in the period.  Eventually, their efforts allowed them to put one of those shots behind Appleton’s senior goalie, Emily Fischer, who frequently frustrated the Wildcat shooters during the game. Fischer stopped 32 of the Wildcats’ 34 shots on her.

The game’s first goal was not the most beautiful, but it counted. It came while the Wildcats were on the power play.  Junior defenseman Jenna Klenz halted an Appleton attempt to ice the puck then rifled it into the right corner. It bounced to the low side boards where junior Claire Ali controlled it.  Ali zinged a pass into the low slot to junior Gaby Turer, who was tightly guarded at the time.  Turer turned to her backhand to get clear.  She then launched a low backhander at the net.  The puck hit Fischer’s pads, slipped away like a mouse with a morsel, and slowly slid across the goal line at 6:50.

The Wildcats increased their lead early in the third period.  After Strother made a save on a one-on-four attempt, the puck bounced to senior defenseman Hannah Gold. Gold skated behind the net then passed the puck up the left boards to freshman Jordan Bonk, who chipped it into center ice.  An Appleton defenseman got it and threw it back toward the same boards.  It went onto Bonk’s stick.  She took off like a well-fueled rocket, skated past the Appleton defenders, and zoomed into the Appleton zone on a breakaway.  As she entered the lower part of the left circle, she blitzed a shot into the upper corner of the net at 4:55.