The Needham Rockets missed a golden opportunity to take over first place in the Bay State Conference Herget Division Wednesday night when they squandered a three-goal lead and lost 5-4 to Milton in overtime.
The Needham girls led 4-1 with under 10 minutes to play before Milton rallied for three goals to send the game to OT. The tying goal came with Milton’s goalie pulled and Needham skating a player short because of a penalty.
Milton’s Sabrina Stone completed the comeback with a breakaway goal late in the extra session that kept the Wildcats in first place.
Needham spotted Milton a first period goal before senior Jill Peabody tied it. The Rockets then exploded with three second-period goals — another by Peabody and two by freshman sensation Cassie Ling — to take a 4-1 lead into the final period. But Needham never scored again and was victimized by sloppy play in the final minutes and overtime despite the best efforts of senior goalie Caitlin McNeill.
Last night’s tie at the Babson rink leaves Needham with a 3-1-1 record in conference play (3-2-1 overall). Milton is 5-0 in conference play and 7-3 overall.
Needham coach Allisyn Furano’s team has an impressive mix of experienced veterans and promising newcomers. The captains are senior forwards Peabody (six goals) and Katelyn Birnbaum (two goals and eight assists) and defenseman Emmie Verville. Ling, who scored five goals in an 8-1 rout of Braintree and has nine overall, is among four freshmen on the squad. Ling, Peabody and sophomore Bella D’Amelio (six goals) are the team’s leading goal scorers.
“The team has a great deal of potential,” Furano wrote in an email prior to last night’s game. “It’s a long season. We’ll simply take one game at a time.”
The Rockets are trying to improve on last winter’s performance. They went 12-7-1 before being knocked out in the first round of the Division 1 state tournament. Last night’s loss was a painful setback.
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