In the second round of the Girls Hockey Classic Tournament at University School Friday, the University School co-op girls’ hockey team defeated the Waupaca co-op team 7-2.

The Wildcats took a 4-0 lead in the first period. They added two goals in the second period, and one more in the final period before surrendering two power play goals in the game’s last thirty seconds.  Freshman Gaby Turer had two goals to lead the Wildcats while senior Caitlin McBride, junior Nicole Unsworth, sophomore Natalie Pogorelc, and freshmen Hannah Neudorfer and Karly Lamoreaux tallied one apiece for USM. Sophomore Avery Simonson and junior Katarina Otter-Giese scored for Waupaca.

“We followed our game plan pretty well,” said Jake Haury, USM’s head coach.  “We have a few things to work on, but I was pleased with the way we played tonight.  We have a tough test in tomorrow’s game against Lakeshore, but I hope we can win it to win the tournament.”

The Wildcats opened the scoring early in the first period. Skating out of the USM zone, Unsworth rushed into the Waupaca zone and took a close in shot.  Senior goalie Cassie Rassmussen stopped it, but she could not control the rebound.  As players batted at it, the puck bounced into the slot.  Turer got it turned and lined a low shot in at 2:38 of the first period.

Turer also scored the Wildcats’ second goal. Unsworth got a loose puck in the Waupaca zone and darted below the goal line.  She passed the puck to Turer who had slipped into the slot, and Turer one-timed it in at 8:35.

The Wildcats scored two goals in the space of ten seconds late in the first period.  They scored the first at 14:42. Forechecking during a line change, Unsworth chased down a loose puck in the right corner of the Waupaca zone.  She saw Lamoreaux coming into the play and backhanded a pass to her in the near circle.  Lamoreaux skated toward the net then fired a low shot past Rasmussen.

Lamoreaux won the center ice faceoff, pulling it back to freshman defenseman Libby Hennelly.  Hennelly passed it to her partner, sophomore Hannah Gold.  Gold looked and saw Neudorfer speeding toward the Waupaca blue line and passed the puck to her.  Neudorfer kept going.  A defenseman cut toward her and knocked her down in the high slot.  As she fell, Neudorfer whipped the puck toward the net.  It made it past Rasmussen and made the score 4-0 at 14:52.

The Wildcats took a penalty early in the second period, but the punishment led to a goal for USM.

Following the penalty faceoff in the USM end, Unsworth got the puck and skated it into the Waupaca end.  She and McBride harassed the Waupaca power play players, preventing them from moving out of the zone. Finally a Waupaca player chipped the puck into center ice.  Like a bird of prey swooping for a meal, McBride flew to the puck, curled across the blue line and headed down the left side unimpeded.  She cut in, skated across the crease and jammed the puck past Rasmussen at 1:07.

Cycling in the Waupaca end, McBride got the puck in the left corner, skated behind the net, and passed it out to Turer in the right circle.  Like she was re-gifting a Hanukkah present, Turer gave it right back.  McBride twirled out front and tried to stuff the puck inside the post.  She failed.  But the rebound came out to the slot.  Unsworth was hovering there.  She stepped past a defender to get the puck then immediately gunned a shot into the net. Time of the goal: 8:53.

USM’s sixth goal lead put the clock on running time.  The teams had enough time for three third period goals.

The Wildcats scored their seventh goal at 1:47 of the third period. Gold stopped a Waupaca clearing attempt at the blue line, and fired the puck on net. Senior Zoe Oskarsson rushed in, took the puck from a defenseman, whirled and flipped it back into the slot. Pogorelc was moving in, and she one-timed a shot past Rasmussen.

The Wildcats were assessed two penalties in the final minutes of the game, allowing Waupaca to score two power play goals as the final minute ticked off the clock.  While Waupaca had a two-player advantage, Simonson took a breakout pass from Otter-Giese and skated down the ice.  As she entered the USM zone, she cut to the left past a defender and fired a shot.  The puck hit sophomore goalie Juliana Strother, who had replaced the Wildcats’ starting goaltender freshman Marie Detert earlier in the period. Strother clutched it against her stomach, but the puck trickled to the ice and slid across the goal line at 16:30.

Waupaca kept at it.  They scored the game’s final goal in the last second.  On the play, sophomore Markie Ash got the puck inside the USM zone and blazed a diagonal pass to Otter-Giese on the backdoor. Otter-Giese slammed it in just before the horn sounded to end the game.

USM is 4-1-1 and 1-0-1 in the Eastern Shores Conference. To conclude round robin play in the Girls Hockey Classic Tournament the Wildcats play Lakeshore in a non-conference game at 2:00 p.m. on Saturday, December 12th at USM.