McNelly, Webster lead Central-Memorial girls past Souhegan, 8-0

MANCHESTER, NH — Blowout victories can either be glorified scrimmages or they can prove to be an opportunity to work on specific things and grow as a team.

Central-Memorial Coach Cassidy Lavigne feels like her squad achieved the latter in an 9-0 win over Souhegan, Thursday afternoon at JFK Coliseum.

Junior Grace Webster and freshman Ryleigh McNelly each had a hat trick for the Little Green (2-1-0), who led 4-0 after one period and 7-0 after two. Senior Coriann Hoag had two goals (4,5) and an assist. Sophomore Grace Manning added her second goal of the season and sophomore Rose Tague-Bleau chipped in with a pair of assists.

Junior goaltender Chloe Gilroy earned the win in net. She was forced to make just six saves but preserved her shutout with a nice poke save on a breakaway by Souhegan’s Allison Jordan late in the third period.

As the result of a scheduling quirk, the teams were meeting for the second time in nine days. Central-Memorial won the first matchup, 10-0, so Lavigne had a good idea of what to expect in the rematch and had certain goals in mind for her club.

“Some of the big things we want to be working on are positioning, passing, just the fundamental basics is what I’m looking for,” said Levigne, adding that she wanted to see the backline become more involved with the offense. “We want them to be having fun, so we change it up. We want the defense to be scoring from the points, so we have our offense feeding them.”

Webster now has seven goals on the young season, having tallied four times in the first game against Souhegan. She played goaltender in Central-Memorial’s game against Pinkerton Academy and made 53 saves in a 9-2 loss.

For the hard-skating McNelly, it was the first hat trick of her high school career, giving her four goals on the season. It was McNelly who put the Little Green on top early, snapping off a wrist shot from the left circle over the glove of Souhegan goaltender Maeve McNamara.

A minute later, as if playing a game of H-O-R-S-E, Hoag scored from the exact same spot on the ice, with an almost identical shot, to make it 2-0.

Central-Memorial got a power play goal by Hoag, before it was Webster’s turn in the left circle, finding the back of the net to push the lead to 4-0 with 2:21 to play in the period.

In the second period, Webster and McNelly potted goals just seven seconds apart to make it 6-0, and the rout was on.

With just one division for girls hockey in New Hampshire, the talent level can vary greatly from game-to-game. Central-Memorial will get some time off before returning to action on Jan. 3, on the road at Lebanon-Kearsage-Stevens (1-2-0), a team with whom the Little Green should find themselves evenly matched.

The game between Central-Memorial and Souhegan can be viewed, in its entirety, on YouTube here — https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zVjqP95KuSw