EASTHAMPTON — It took the Williston girls’ hockey team just 12 seconds to score its first goal against Westminster on Thursday night. The Wildcats’ cheers echoed around Lossone Rink as Zola Piekarski flew to the bench, leading the fist bump line to celebrate her goal. 

Less than a minute later, Williston notched its second goal, this one from Monique Lyons, and from that moment it was game on. 

The Wildcats’ emphatic 7-1 win over Westminster was a microcosm of their season thus far. Williston still hasn’t lost a game this year, improving its record to a perfect 18-0 with Thursday’s win. The team has relied on a mix of offensive firepower and a rock-solid defense to avoid the loss column. 

“We're gritty and relentless. We have four lines that can play and we just keep going at teams and they can't keep up with that,” Lyons said. “Our depth is our main thing, and our willingness to work hard on the forecheck and on the backcheck and just overall.” 

It wasn’t clear at the beginning of the season exactly how this iteration of Williston would look. The team graduated seven seniors last year that were central to their success. They brought in seven newcomers this year, who have had to adjust to playing with new teammates and coaches. 

“We're young in some ways. We graduated seven players who were pretty instrumental in our season last year. Some of our new kids have done an amazing job transitioning, which has been helpful, but we have a lot of returning experience as well,” Williston head coach Christa Talbot Syfu said. “So I think there's been a nice complement of returning kids who know what the expectations are and are leading the way, and new kids who are eager and ready to step in and make a difference.” 

This year’s senior class in particular has been a crucial part of the Wildcats’ success. The five-member class has three returners – Ava DeCoste, Emily Crovo and Katherine Kang – and two other players, Jenna Guglielmi and Miranda Calderone, who are new to Williston but not new to the competitive hockey season. Together, those five have been leaders on and off the ice for the Wildcats, helping the younger players adjust to high expectations while welcoming them into the Williston family. 

“It's been going really well,” DeCoste said on how the new members of the team have fit in. “They're all very good listeners. That all know we set high expectations and they're willing to follow them…. our team has just been such a close family and us upperclassmen have just been trying to get all the underclassmen to come in and feel welcome from the start so that we all feel connected out there.” 

Williston’s chemistry was evident from the first drop of the puck on Thursday. Passes were connecting cleanly, players were anticipating where their teammates would be, and everyone was able to execute plays effectively at top speed, racing up and down the ice with apparent ease. 

While the team’s offense has stood out thus far, the Wildcats have been stressing the importance of playing an effective defensive game as well. Williston has relied on two goaltenders, Guglielmi and Olivia Ferebee, in net this season; the two have shared the crease evenly and both proven themselves reliable as the team’s last line of defense. But before the puck even gets to Guglielmi or Ferebee, it has to get past the team’s stingy defense. 

“We don't allow a ton of shots… especially in the last week or so, we've been talking about committing to playing better team defense,” Talbot Syfu said. “When you score a lot of goals, it's easy to be like ‘Alright, we're just gonna play offense.’ If you want to play half of the ice against some really good teams, it's not going to work.”

The Wildcats have six games left in their regular season before they gear up for what they hope will be a long postseason run. They have a tall task ahead of them – their opponent is Phillips Academy, which only has one loss this season. But if they can keep connected both on and off the ice like they have all season, Williston should be poised for another successful end to its season.

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