DEERFIELD — Deerfield Academy girls hockey coach Brooke Fernandez couldn’t have asked for a more complete performance from her squad on Wednesday against Northfield Mount Hermon. 

The first meeting of the season between the two rivals saw DA walk away with a high-scoring 7-4 victory in Gill. The Big Green defense didn't allow the Hoggers the same opportunities the second time around. 

NMH picked up a penalty 23 seconds into the game and Deerfield capitalized by scoring 25 seconds later to take a 1-0 lead just 48 seconds into the game. DA tacked two more goals on the board before the first period came to a close, added a goal in the second period before erupting for five goals in the final frame to run away with a 9-1 NEPSAC victory at Class of 1993 Rink. 

“I’m happy with how hard the kids are working,” Fernandez said. “It’s nice to see them actualize some of their offense. We started the season against some really tough competition and hung in there. Today was a good day for everyone to gain some confidence offensively and put some pucks in the net.” 

It was a dominant performance while on the power play for the Big Green (9-1-1). 

NMH took five penalties in the game and Deerfield was able to score a goal on four of them. On the lone power play DA didn’t convert, the team scored just two seconds after NMH returned to full strength. 

The team’s power play was struggling heading into Wednesday’s contest, and Fernandez said she’s hoping this performance can give the unit confidence moving forward. 

“We had a really low percentage on the power play coming into the game,” Fernandez said. “We just changed it up two days ago and this was our first outing since. It’s been nice to see them actualize that offense. There’s been some moments we haven't been able to finish. Today we got lucky.” 

Hoggers coach Scot McComas noted that his young squad was playing some of its best hockey of the season heading into the game. NMH (1-10) just happened to run into one of its toughest opponents of the season on Wednesday. 

Still, McComas was proud of the effort his team showed, fighting until the final whistle despite the score. 

“Deerfield is a great team,” McComas said. “They’re fast, they’re smart, their hockey IQ is off the charts and they’re well coached. They outdid us today. There’s something about these games against Deerfield. We always play them to the final whistle. You wouldn’t have known we were down by eight goals. These games are full of class, grit and character. We’re learning with every game. We’re playing our best hockey of the season. We just ran into one of the toughest opponents we’ll face all year today.”

It was Keira Austin who gave DA the opening lead of the game, sniping a shot from the left circle off a dish from Ava Giroux. 

With 13:49 to play in the first period the Big Green struck again. Annie Dinges corralled the puck in the left circle, fired it over to Sophie Frost and she blasted the one-timer home to give DA a 2-0 lead. 

Later in the period DA tacked on a third goal. The Big Green won a faceoff in the NMH zone, Brady Wierl took a shot that didn’t reach the net, but Gia Thompson was there to tap the loose puck in and put Deerfield ahead, 3-0, with 6:09 to go in the first. 

It was the power play that gave DA its fourth goal of the game. With 13:54 to play in the second period Olivia Austen worked the puck over to Wierl. Wierl sent a cross-crease pass over to Frost, who tapped it into the open net to add to the Big Green lead. 

NMH scored its lone goal of the game with 2:53 to play in the second period. Bernardston’s Saylor Cohen raced up the ice and sent a pass over to Leeds’ Lily Goldsmith while on the rush. Goldsmith, in the slot, rocketed a shot that made it to the back of the net, cutting the lead to 4-1 going into the third. 

The final 17 minutes of action were dominated by DA. 

It was Dinges who opened the scoring, knocking home a rebound off a shot from Austen while on the power play to give the Big Green a 5-1 lead with 15:55 to play. 

Two minutes later, with 14:02 to go, Deerfield’s Kate Doucette got the puck in front and put a shot on goal that was saved by NMH’s Helen Zeaske. Zeaske stopped Doucette’s first rebound shot but she was unable to save the second, as Doucette put it in the back of the net to add to the DA lead. 

Right after a Hoggers penalty expired, Dinges scored her second goal of the game, rocketing in a shot off a feed from Keira Austen that gave the Big Green a 7-1 lead with 9:45 to play. 

Thompson found Gillian Herr with a cross-ice pass and Herr smashed it home for DA’s eighth goal that came with 7:37 to play. Deerfield closed out the scoring with 3:02 to play while on the power play, as Thompson found Dinges in front and she knocked it home to give her a hat trick on the day. 

After taking some time to learning how to play together, Fernandez said that her young group is making strides as the season nears the halfway point. 

“There was a lot of ‘what am I doing?’ from our new kids in the beginning of the year,” Fernandez said. “We had some wonky plays. All of that has smoothed out these last couple weeks. It’s been really fun to see.” 

McComas said that a good chunk of his team is playing prep level hockey for the first time and that it will take time to adjust to the speed of the game. 

“We’re even younger this year than we were last year,” McComas said. “We lost 10 seniors from a season ago. We have eight or nine girls who are playing their first year of prep hockey. Sometimes the speed of this game catches them off guard. This is a great example.”

Giroux, of Holyoke, and Amherst’s Ava Carvel were among the locals who play for Deerfield. Cohen, Leeds’ Celia and Lily Goldsmith, Hadley’s Mary Styspeck and Amherst’s Yanling Zhang are on the NMH roster.