GILL — Deerfield Academy girls hockey coach Brooke Fernandez saw her team’s offense come to life in a 2-2 tie against Lawrenceville on Saturday, and the momentum gained from that carried over into Wednesday’s game against Northfield Mount Hermon. 

The Big Green got things started early, finding the back of the net twice in the opening 10 minutes of action before tacking on another goal before the first period buzzer sounded to take a 3-0 lead after one. 

DA tallied three more goals the rest of the way to come away with a 6-1 victory at McCollum Arena.

“Every coach likes fast starts,” Fernandez said. “We’ve been talking about playing with consistency. It was big for us to come out fired up and score right away versus letting the other team dictate the pace of the game. That’s been something we’ve been working on. I was happy to see today that we set the pace and set the tone of the game.” 

The Big Green (6-3-2) took advantage of the power play to get on the scoreboard. DA’s Annie Dinges drove the puck in from the left side and slid a pass over to CC DesLauriers, who tapped it home with 10 minutes to go in the period to give the Big Green a 1-0 lead. 

Two minutes later, DA added to its advantage. Senior Kaley MacDonald retrieved the puck at the point, drove into the slot and blistered a shot that found its way into the back of the net, making it a 2-0 game with eight minutes left in the frame. 

Brady Wierl made it a 3-0 game going into the second period. Callia Ferraris blasted a shot from the blue line and Wierl got her stick on it, deflecting it into the net with three minutes to go in the period to stretch out the Big Green lead. 

While DA dominated possession in the second period, it was unable to finish the quality chances it was creating. 

That changed with four minutes to go in the period. Dinges stole the puck on the left wing, drove in and ripped a shot into the top right corner of the goal, extending the Big Green lead to 4-0 going into the third period. 

DA tacked on two goals in the final 17 minutes of action. Dinges scored the first one, putting in a rebound off a shot from Mia Goetzke with 10 minutes remaining in the contest. Two minutes later Peyton Wierl sent a pass across the crease to Brady Wierl, who knocked the puck home to make it a 6-0 game. 

NMH got on the board with seven minutes to play, capitalizing on a power play. It was Ava Romano who buried a shot from the left dot, cutting the deficit to 6-1. 

While the Hoggers haven’t gotten the results on the scoreboard they’ve been hoping for, first year coach Scot McComas said he’s seen his team make strides each time they’re out on the ice and hopes to continue to see growth the rest of the season. 

“This season has been going well,” Scot McComas said. “I’m proud of the girls. It’s my first season here and the girls show up every practice happy, ready to play and are super enthusiastic. Same thing with every game. This season has been a win so far. It’s not showing up in wins and losses yet but we’re bringing energy to every game, the girls are enjoying themselves and they're learning. We’re getting better every game as a team and I can’t be more proud of that.”

McComas was pleased with how his team battled the entire way against a tough DA team on Wednesday. 

“That shows the resiliency of our team,” McComas said. “We dug ourselves into a 3-0 hole after one but managed to hold them to three the rest of the way. This is a really good Deerfield team. We never quit and that shows the grit we have.”

With 11 new players on this year’s squad, Fernandez said she’s also seeing growth as the season has gone along. The Big Green made it to the NEPSAC Large School title game a year ago, and Fernandez said she’s going to need to see a similar offensive output from her team as it had on Wednesday if it wants to make another postseason push. 

“It’s putting the puck in the back of the net,” Fernandez said. “We figured out the pace and we’ve been working well together. We outshot our last two opponents. We have to find those rebounds. We left a couple on the table today so we’ll work on that in practice. We have all the components to make another run. In some ways we’re stronger than we were last year in terms of depth and energy levels. Last year we only had seven forward for a couple weeks so we were gassed by the end of the year.” 

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