SOUTH KINGSTOWN – Just two league games into the season, the South County Storm girls hockey co-op already earned a milestone victory.
South County won 4-1 Saturday night against the brand new La Salle/Toll Gate/Pilgrim/West Warwick co-op (TRPW). The Storm went the entirety of last season without beating the usual powerhouse La Salle. Saturday’s result, which put the Storm at a 2-0 record before a Sunday loss at Pope Francis Prep (Massachusetts), is a good sign for an especially young team.
“I think a win like this just means we’re building a better culture than we had last year,” senior goaltender Maddie Ammatuna said. “It’s amazing in the locker room this year. And on the ice, you can really see how the girls are connected. So I just think it shows the amount of work we put in during the offseason just to be better.”
La Salle had reached the state final seven straight years as a solo program and won the state title last year, but they joined forces with the Warwick co-op this season. Coincidentally, TRPW now also calls itself the Storm.
A lot of talent graduated from last year’s Rams team, and Warwick went only 5-10. It’s too early to tell who the top teams are with only six programs in the RIIL, but it would be surprising if TRPW doesn’t factor into the top half.
South County, meanwhile, has multiple freshmen and sophomores contributing and has only a handful of upperclassmen on the roster, but they’ve looked strong right away. Against TRPW, sophomore Sammi Fagan scored twice, freshman Ellery Ammatuna scored once and senior captain Payton Abrams wristed in the fourth goal.
“We had a lot of hardships last year,” Maddie Ammatuna said. “And I think we kind of got to wipe that slate clean with a lot of young members coming in.”
“It’s not so much that we’re a young team or we’re replacing the girls [who graduated],” Fagan added. “I think we’re just getting new and different experiences…. We’re progressing and getting 1% better every day.”
Shots on goal and faceoffs were almost equal on Saturday. The Storm outshot TRPW 26-25 and lost faceoffs 21-19.
The score stood at 1-1 through the first period despite TRPW outshooting the Storm 15-4 and winning 10 of 16 faceoffs. Fagan scored an unassisted goal 1:46 into the game by punching a loose puck under the goalie. TRPW responded 3:28 into the period with a goal by Greta Tomka. Maddie Ammatuna stopped the other 14 shots in the period.
Fagan scored again with six minutes left in the second period, again punching in a loose puck after her initial shot was saved, with Lucy Dunning swatting the puck away from the goalie to earn an assist.
The Storm played a dominant final period, outshooting TRPW 15-6 and scoring twice. Ellery Ammatuna one-timed a puck into the net 2:03 into the period, assisted by Annie Connerton and Sophia Kocab. Abrams wristed home an unassisted goal four minutes later during a power play.
“This just puts us in a good position,” Fagan said about the win. “It’s like we set the standard.”
South County won’t play another league game until Jan. 3 when they’ll host SCMB. They’ll play three holiday tournament games in Burrillville from Dec. 29-31.