Paisley Meyer had her second straight four-goal game in Phillips Exeter’s win over Cushing. (Patrick Donnelly/NEHJ)
EXETER, N.H. — No one was stopping Paisley Meyer on Friday night.
The junior Yale commit posted her second straight four-goal performance, leading Phillips Exeter to a wild, 5-4 win over Cushing.
Clara Cary (Danvers, Mass.) also scored for the Big Red (6-0-2), and Eva Mai Whyte (Natick, Mass.) earned the win in net. Erin Sears (Cornwall, Vt.) and Maria Gray each had two assists, too.
Stella Hunter (Auburndale, Mass.) had a goal and an assist for Cushing (7-4-1). Bella Freitas (Everett, Mass.), Lyla Rahn (Stratham, N.H.) and Madi Soderquist (Woburn, Mass.) scored for the Penguins as well.
Meyer (Greenland, N.H.) opened the scoring with 3:34 to go in the first, knocking Brooke Harb (Atkinson, N.H.) off the puck before dangling to the net and roofing a backhand. She cashed in again 23 seconds later, one-timing a loose puck in the slot as the trailer after Erin Sears (Cornwall, Vt.) set up Maria Gray off the rush.
Cary tripled the lead with 40 seconds to go in the first, shoveling home a loose puck in tight off a turnover.
Freitas got Cushing on the board with a beauty just 2:11 into the second, dangling Claudia Navrat (Cumberland, Maine) before picking the top corner from the right circle.
Moments later, Meyer extended the lead to 4-1 with a beauty of her own, shorthanded, pick-pocketing Emersyn Fisher Bailey (Duxbury, Mass.) in the attacking zone before going forehand-backhand against Sadie Bellissimo, who entered in relief of Ines Khamis after the first period.
Rahn pulled Cushing back within two 42 seconds later with a redirect in the slot on the power play off Hunter’s shot from the point.
Meyer got her fourth of the night when she made it 5-2 with a backdoor one-timer on a quick feed from Sears off Gray’s rebound.
The Penguins clawed back in the third, though. Hunter cut it to 5-3 just 56 seconds into the frame, going bar down after dangling into the slot from the point.
Soderquist made it a one-goal game a minute later, going top shelf after driving to the middle for a feed off the rush. It was all Cushing could muster in the comeback bid, though.
Let’s dive into eight standouts before getting into five takeaways from the game.