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Konaxis leads Beverly over Gloucester

Thursday, December, 20 By Jean DePlacido
Correspondent

The youth movement has definitely taken over on the Beverly girls hockey team with 10 freshmen and two eighth-graders taking regular shifts. But while the Panther are very young with only two seniors, they are also very skilled.

Yesterday afternoon they dominated play at the Talbot Rink right from the start, handling winless Gloucester with ease. Senior captain Rachel Konaxis did a masterful job distributing the puck and finished with seven points on a goal and six assists in Beverly's 9-1 win.

"This was a good game because we had a chance to play everybody," said Beverly coach Fiona Rice. Gloucester has a lot of newer players, and we know what they're going through because we've been there. We are fortunate to have two solid lines, and have been working with the new girls on positional hockey."

The visitors wasted little time getting on the board with just over a minute gone when Taylor Cross, an eighth grader from Saugus, took a lead pass from Konaxis and beat Fisherman goalie Andrea Rovedo five hole. Gloucester threatened to tie it up when Emily Enterrante went in on a breakaway, but Panther goalie Brianna Jackson made a big save. That seemed to fire Beverly up, and they pulled away by adding three more scores before the period ended on a pair of goals by Katelyn DeSimone (Saugus) sandwiched in between a beauty by Konaxis, who made a nifty move to get around a defender and walk in alone before picking a spot in the lower corner of the net.

"We have a lot of depth this year even though we do have a lot of freshmen, which is unusual on a varsity team," said Konaxis, who has Bowdoin No. 1 on her college list and plans to continue playing hockey. "They may be young, but they are making a huge impact and everybody is contributing.

"We pass a lot, and when we get up by a few goals we try to move the puck around so that some of the girls that don't normally score will be able to. We have a good blend this year, and it's fun to meet the new girls (Beverly is a cooperative team with Saugus and Danvers). "

Three goals, all by freshmen, in the middle period increased the cushion to 7-0 heading into the final frame. Clare Leathersich | a familiar name in Beverly hockey | proved her older brother Jack doesn't have a corner on the goal scoring market by putting in two of her own. Courtney McTague, a freshman defenseman from Saugus, also scored a pair.

"We had some big efforts from Leathersich and McTague today," said Rice. "Cross really stepped up as well, and another freshman Talya Corrado (Saugus) did a nice job on defense."

The Panthers used their speed and accurate passing to dominate the first two periods, but Gloucester coach Thomas Beaulieu was pleased with the way his team picked it up in the third period. The Fishermen avoided being shutout when senior captain Sam Auliso slipped the puck past eighth grade goalie Jenna LoVasco, who had replaced Jackson for the last 15 minutes.

"We lost seven seniors and are a young team with only 12 skaters," said Beaulieu. "Beverly is lucky to have such a strong co-op team, and it was impressive the way they skated and cycled the puck so effectively. But I am happy with our game. By the third period our girls were moving the puck well which led to our score, and our defense was much better. I see improvement, and I hope they don't get discouraged by a loss like this."

The Panthers only setback came against Concord-Carlisle, 3-1, and they will face another strong test on Saturday against Waltham.