Greely was able to contain the Red Hornets offensive threats.
“I thought they did pretty well in their defensive zone,” Collins added. “They got a lot of traffic in front of the net and kept us from getting shots to the net when we did get them to the net. They did a good job clearing out the traffic in front of the net.”
Danita Storey provided all the offense for the Rangers in the second period.
She got things started in the 9:07 mark when she unleased a hot from the top of the right circle. Freshman Emilee McGillicuddy picked up her lone assist and her first career point.
“She’s got the ablility to do things by herself when she needs to,” Greely head coach Nate Guerin said of Storey. “She had an unbelievable effort on both goals.”
The Red Hornets (1-1) went on the power play with 3:13 remaining in the period. Storey turned the penalty kill into offense when she picked up the puck in the neutral zone and broke into the offensive zone all alone and beat goaltender Savannah Shaw for the 2-0 lead.
“That was certainly a big (turnover),” Collins said of the shorthanded goal. “We certainly expected a tough game out of them. They are the defending state champs. They know how to win big games, and this was a quality effort by them.”
Leavitt/EL finally got on the board when Angel Drouin skated around the net and released the shot in the high slot to beat Maura Perry.
“They are a very strong team, and they have some great players,” Guerin said. “We matched up against them pretty well and we competed really hard, which at this point of the season you really want to see.”
The Red Hornets got another chance on the power play late in the game, but it was quickly nullified with a body checking penalty of their own.
Both teams were 0-for-2 on the power play.
Shaw made a couple of key saves in the final two minutes to keep the Red Hornets in striking distance. She made 12 saves in the game.
The Red Hornets made a last-ditch effort with the goalie pulled for an extra attacker, but no significant chances were created as the clock struck zero.
Perry made nine saves in the win.
Leavitt/EL will travel down to Saco on Saturday to face the Scarborough Red Storm at 12:30 p.m.
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