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Bradley, Lady Headers ice Panthers' tourney hopes

Thursday, February, 21 By Matt Williams
Staff writer

The only thing colder than the toes of the spectators inside Kasabuski Arena last night was the deep freeze Marblehead goalie Moe Bradley laid on host Beverly's offense. Behind 24 stops from the sophomore netminder, the Lady Headers handed the Panthers a 4-0 defeat.

Beverly entered this week needing four points to qualify for the state tournament and saw its offense falter at the worst possible time. Coupled with Monday's shutout loss to Wakefield, last night's blanking by Marblehead officially eliminated the Panthers (8-10-0) from the postseason. The Lady Headers have already qualified and improved to 10-7-2.

"We didn't get quality shots. There might've been some nerves involved because they knew the importance of this game," said Beverly coach Fiona Rice.

The Panthers weren't without their chances, drawing four power play chances between the first and second periods. Despite lengthy bouts of possession and strong cycling, they couldn't find an open shot | and when they did Bradley was more than up to the task. Beverly finished the night 0 for 5 on the man advantage.

"Our power play didn't work the way it was supposed to tonight," said Rice. "We were relying on a couple of players instead of having everyone looking towards the net."

Down 1-0 early in the second, the Panthers seemed to pick up some momentum when netminder Brianna Jackson made a staggering glove save on Marblehead's Tori Snow. Soon after, Beverly was back on the power play and Bradley had to make a pair of point blank saves on Rachel Konaxis to keep her team on top.

Marblehead blew the game open soon after with a pair of goals just 24 seconds apart. Ashley White broke in alone and beat Jackson at 10:42, and Snow finished a classic 2 on 1 with Asiling Fallon to give the Lady Headers a commanding 3-0 lead.

"We knew that this was a must win for Beverly, so they were going to come out flying. We matched that and at times even exceeded it," said Marblehead coach Emily Hudak.

The three goal edge was more than Bradley would need as she was perfect in recording her sixth shutout of the season. One of the top goaltenders around, she's held her opponents to 2 goals or less in 17 of her 19 starts this year. "It's tough to bounce back after two quick goals like that," said Rice. "In a game that was so tight, we knew it would be hard to score one goal | to be looking at having to score three took us down a bit."

Snow (2 goals, assist) added the icing on the cake with a power play tally at 10:07 of the third. The goal sailed over the shoulder of a screened Jenna LoVasco, who relieved Jackson (11 saves) at the start of the third and totaled four saves.

In addition to Bradley's heroics, the total commitment to defense of Marblehead's forwards and blue liners helped them hold off Konaxis, the North Cape League leading scorer, and snipers Taylor Cross and Courtney McTague.

"It's exciting when everybody plays well and you can help the goalie earn (the shutout)," said Hudak. "Moe's good | it's exciting watching her and you can tell she's having a lot of fun out there."

Both teams have season finales and Seniors Nights scheduled for tomorrow night with Marblehead hosting Shawsheen at Salem State's Rockett Arena and looking to improve tourney seeding. The Panthers face Everett at Kasabuski.

"This one is tough to shake off because the girls all wanted to make the tournament," said Rice. "It's still the best record we've had (in three years as a varsity team) and we want to improve that and send our seniors off on a nice note."