AUBURN — Scarborough freshman Ali Mokriski collected her own rebound before wrapping around the back of the net and sliding a shot under St. Dominic/Winthrop/Gray-New Gloucester goalie Madyson Boulet midway through overtime to give the Red Storm a 2-1 victory in a girls hockey game Wednesday night.
It was the second straight overtime game for the Red Storm, which settled for a scoreless tie against Edward Little/Leavitt/Poland in its previous game Saturday.
“I guess our overtime talk was just, we just said, ‘You know, the rest of season is going to be like this, and it’s going to be these close games, and it just comes down to who wants it,'” Scarborough coach Taylor Fowler said. “And I told them, ‘The biggest thing is you got to show more heart,’ and they really bought in.”
The Red Storm outshot the Saints 4-0 in 3:59 of extra time.
Mokriski’s goal was a coach’s delight for Fowler.
“It was funny because we had video (review) earlier, and I talked about, ‘Ali, the wraparound doesn’t really work, you got to take the extra stride and then you can try to force it in.’ I mean, she did just that, so it was pretty cool to see,” Fowler said. “She worked hard and she didn’t stop moving until she got it in.”
The Red Storm (14-1-1) scored 19 seconds into the game when Ashlyn Libby fed Maya Sellinger from behind the net to in front.
That lead stuck until there 6:01 left in regulation, when Isabella Webster tied it for the Saints (10-4) with a shot from the circle off a faceoff that zipped past Scarborough goalie Ariella Swett.
“She kind of plays a defensive role, and we’ve been trying to get her more offensive, and she really responded well today. It was an excellent game,” Saints coach Paul Gosselin said.
St. Dominic/Winthrop/Gray-New Gloucester’s West Duffy moves the puck down the ice as Scarborough’s Kathleen Murphy moves in to defend during Wednesday’s night game in Auburn. Andree Kehn/Sun Journal Buy this Photo
“I think we had a lot of chances, missed a couple breakaways, had some nice one-timers in front of the net, and (Swett) responded and made some nice saves,” Gosselin added. “But Bella had a nice rip and made it 1-1. So made it to OT. It was awesome.”
Swett finished with 18 saves, including eight in the third period. Fowler said she was “a rock back there” for the Red Storm.
Boulet made 17 saves, with the last one an initial denial of Mokriski at the left post.
“Overtime is more about adrenaline and bounces, and I think that’s really what it was,” Gosselin said. “It was a bunch of different bounces, and had a bad bounce and it went in.”
Send questions/comments to the editors.
