The Vineyard girls hockey team season ended sooner than planned Thursday, with the girls losing 5-2 at home to Norwood.

The Mustangs came charging out of the gate and rattled the Vineyarders early with two goals in the first six minutes. Having played each other in the final regular season game, the Vineyard girls were eager for redemption but Norwood had an answer for purple’s attack.

The Vineyard girls hockey team fell short in its opening round playoff game, losing 5-2 to Norwood. — Jonathan Fleischmann

After falling down 3-0 to start the second period, freshman forward Emily Coogan scored for the Vineyard with a top-shelf snipe less than a minute after a Norwood goal. With a goal on the board and the crowd roaring behind them, the Vineyarders seemed poised for a comeback and kept the score within two after senior captain and forward Alana Nevin knocked in a rebound to make it 4-2.

But that’s as close as it got.

“I think the difference in that game is that’s a team and an organization that’s been there before and we haven’t,” head coach Geoghan Coogan said after the game.

“I said to the girls after the second period, are we beating ourselves right now? No, they’re getting bounces and that’s the game of hockey,” he continued. “I think we played fine, we just didn’t find the back of the net.”

The second-year head coach wished there was more time for the seniors but he was proud of how they played with toughness, heart and resiliency all season.

Vineyard girls hockey coach Geoghan Coogan praised his team in the loss. “The girls, they just kept after it and I’m proud of them," he said. — Jonathan Fleischmann

“The girls, they just kept after it and I’m proud of them… they’ve come so far and they needed to let go and just play hockey and they started to do that,” he said.

Before the playoffs began, seniors Alana Nevin and Nellie Long were named Cape and Islands league all-stars along with teammates Savannah Meader and Coogan. The line of Elle Mone, Nevin and Coogan also set a school record this year with 102 points in the regular season.

“We don’t have any losses, we have lessons,” coach Coogan said. “And that’s a big lesson for us. For all our returning players, they’ll be here next year, right back in the same spot and they’ll be on the other side of that.”

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