ROCKLAND – In the first matchup between Shrewsbury and Notre Dame (Hingham), the Colonials superstar junior forward Delaney Couture made all the difference in a 3-2 last-second win.
But on Monday morning, Shrewsbury showed it could defeat NDA with Couture playing a secondary role as junior forward Grace Louder shouldered the scoring load.
Louder gave the Colonials a much-needed spark by scoring two goals as Shrewsbury stayed unbeaten with a 3-0 nonleague win over the Cougars at Rockland Ice Rink.
“We beat them earlier in the year and we knew this was going to be a tough game coming out here,” said Shrewsbury coach Frank Panarelli, whose club improves to 18-0-1. “(Louder’s) first goal was a big, big goal. It got us on the board. I think we played a little looser (after that). We were kind of tight when we weren’t scoring right away, but we got our chances.”
Shrewsbury’s prolific offense, which has produced 104 goals this season, was held in check through a scoreless first period and then the Colonials had to withstand a quick flurry of shots from NDA (11-6-1) to begin the second frame to keep it deadlocked.
But Louder got the offense on track just over two minutes into the second period. Louder made her way around a defender on the right wing and flipped a shot past Erin Murray (19 saves) for a 1-0 lead.
Shrewsbury struck again 2:22 later with Abby Cossette’s pass through center ice setting up Couture on a semi breakaway. The Providence College commit did the rest as Couture held off a defender and perfectly placed her shot into the top left corner for a 2-0 advantage.
“Everyone works really well together,” Louder said. “Once we all start working together and moving the puck well, we just keep going.”
While Shrewsbury’s high-octane offense gets much of the attention, its defense has provided stellar play of its own.
The Colonials’ defense, which has allowed only 22 goals this season, negated NDA’s attack and especially focused on slowing down the Cougars’ top scoring threat in Alexa Graziano.
The result was just very few quality scoring opportunities for NDA and 18 shots on net, all of which goalie Riley MacCausland saved to earn the shutout.
“That’s great play from our goalie, but also our defense,” Panarelli said. “We got great senior leadership. We got four seniors back on our blue line doing a great job for us. We got a freshman and a sophomore, too. Our defense played well.”
Controlling play, Shrewsbury took a commanding lead with 6:40 left in the third period when Louder notched her second tally, this time on a wraparound effort.
And getting secondary scoring, which Louder provided to compliment Couture, will continue to be vital for Shrewsbury.
“The first two lines are both scoring, which is great,” Panarelli said. “We look to Delaney a lot to score a lot of our goals obviously, but it’s great to have Grace step up. Everyone’s chipping in.”