A Long Time Coming: Barnstable Hockey Girls Take Down Duxbury for First Time Since ’09

KINGSTON — For the first time since Barnstable head coach Peter Nugnes took the reins four years ago in 2011, the top-ranked Barnstable High ice hockey girls finally got it done.

Thanks to some stellar play by seniors Lindsey Phelan and Morgan Richard, as well as junior forward Caroline Spalt and freshman goalie Olivia Sollows, the state’s top-ranked girls’ high

The Barnstable High girls’ ice hockey team – ranked number one in the state – defeated the Duxbury Green Dragons yesterday in Kingston, 2-0, behind goals from Lindsey Phelan and Morgan Richard and freshman Olivia Sollows’ fifth shutout in goal.
Sean Walsh/capecod.com sports

school hockey team erased any and all doubts yesterday afternoon at The Bog by defeating the vaunted Duxbury Green Dragons, 2-0. The two teams skated to a 3-3 tie back on New Year’s Eve, which, until yesterday, was as close to a victory over Duxbury as Nugnes and his girls have come over the past four years.

“The girls kicked butt,” an understandably happy but still humble Nugnes said yesterday after the win. “Morgan (Richard) played as well as she ever has and #22, our little spitfire, Carly Spalt, was a force on our penalty killing.”

Sollows, who recorded her fifth shutout this season on 21 saves, was equally instrumental in helping erase the five-year drought and in defeating the four-time defending state champion Green Dragons. Duxbury captured last year’s Division 1 state title and in the three seasons prior to that won the Division 2 state title. The last and only time the Red Raiders have been crowned state champs was in 2007 — a season that saw Barnstable both tie and defeat the Duxbury program.

“I was really so happy for the girls. It was amazing. The energy in the locker room was electric. I was so happy for our seniors,” Coach Nugnes said.

Senior captain Lindsey Phelan scored the only goal that Sollows and the rest of the Red Raiders would need when she lit the lamp at the 8:20 mark of the first period by firing in a loose puck in front of the net. Phelan’s goal was assisted by sophomore forwards Olivia Pearsall and Meghan Moore.

Maintaining that slim, 1-0 lead, however, was no easy task, especially on the road and particularly due to the talents of Duxbury fearsome twosome Jane Dudley and Marissa Fichter. The mission throughout the game, Coach Nugnes said, was in large part to shut down Dudley and Fichter’s open opportunities and keep them away as best as possible from creating havoc in front of Sollows.

The mission was accomplished.

Barnstable High senior Morgan Richard proved an estimable foe for the Duxbury Green Dragons yesterday, as the Red Raiders defeated their hosts, 2-0. Richard, a defenseman, scored the game’s second goal in the second period.
Sean Walsh/capecod.com sports

“We sure tried to (stop them),” Nugnes said. “She (Dudley) had her chances and so did Fichter. Duxbury is a very good team with some serious firepower.”

Considerable breathing room for the Red Raiders was afforded in the second period by the athletic and strong senior defenseman Richard whose rough-and-tumble brand of play was clearly evidenced the previous evening in Barnstable’s 3-1 win over Hingham. Richard beat Duxbury goalie Catherine Jordan on a slap shot through a crowd in front of the net at the 9:35 mark of the second period, assisted by her partner in crime, Phelan. The 2-0 Barnstable lead stood throughout the remainder of the game.

The SEMGHL Coastal Division victory may very well prove to be of utmost importance over the next seven days or so as Falmouth, Canton, Duxbury and Barnstable continue to battle for supremacy and league championship bragging rights. However the chips may soon fall, a handful of simple facts remain as of today: Barnstable is undefeated at 10-0-4, it is ranked number one in the state of Massachusetts and it has achieved each mission it set out for itself each step of the way and then some.

The last time the Barnstable girls defeated Duxbury was on December 16, 2009, but even so a sort of local mythology has grown over the past half decade that the Red Raiders simply could not take down one of the state’s perennial girls’ ice hockey powers in the Green Dragons. Interestingly, the precise opposite has been true in the 13 seasons since Barnstable established a girls’ varsity ice hockey program. The Red Raiders have — since the program’s inception in 2002-2003 — established a lifetime record of 7-10-8 against the rival Green Dragon ladies (source: www.redraiderpride.com).

But for 4th-year head coach Nugnes (pronounced New-Jess), it is perhaps the apex of “firsts” under his tenure.

“In my time, we had never beaten Duxbury. It’s just an amazing feeling,” Nugnes said.

Barnstable next faces Dennis-Yarmouth on Wednesday at the Hyannis Youth and Community Center at 5:00 pm.

— Sean Walsh is the sports editor for www.capecod.com. His email is [email protected]. Follow him on Twitter @coachwalshccbm