SALEM — The Winthrop girls hockey team used a combination of strong puck possession and timely scoring to come away with a 2-1 victory over Marblehead in a Northeastern Hockey League bout at Rockett Arena Wednesday night.
Junior Emma Holmes led the way for Winthrop with one goal and one assist, while freshman Talia Martucci scored one goal. Junior Julia Holmes added two assists in the win. Senior goalie Summer Tallent earned the victory in net — the 45th of her career — with 11 saves.
For Marblehead, freshman Elsa Wood scored the lone goal on an assist from junior Sophia Zerilli. Sophomore goalie Lily Francoeur made 22 saves in the losing effort.
Winthrop got off to a hot start, controlling possession for much of the first period. The Vikings finally broke through with about six minutes to go in the first, when Julia Holmes found Martucci out front to make it a 1-0 game.
But Marblehead didn’t get rattled, and the Magicians started pushing the pace in the final minutes of the first period. It came to a head with less than a minute to go, when Zerilli sent a pass up the boards to Wood, who broke into the zone and sent a shot to the net. The puck bounced off the post and hit Tallent in the back, ricocheting into the net to tie the score at 1-1.
While Marblehead was able to take some of that momentum into the second period, a penalty in the first few minutes flipped that momentum to Winthrop’s side. About a minute later, with the Vikings on the powerplay, Emma Holmes cleaned up a rebound in front of the net and buried it to give Winthrop a 2-1 lead.
In the third period, Winthrop needed to hold on. While Marblehead did help the Vikings out by handing them a powerplay opportunity, Winthrop still needed to withstand a penalty kill of its own, and a desperate Magicians team that eventually pulled Francoeur out of the net for an extra attacker.
But through all that, Winthrop was able to do what it did best all night — possess the puck. The Vikings were able to kill off the final minute of play and skate away with the close league victory.
Winthrop (3-0-0) travels to Peabody/Lynnfield Wednesday (5:15).
Marblehead (3-3-0) travels to Burlington Wednesday (11).
