Decembery 1, 2023 – Story by Ava DiCecca, photos by Joshua Ross
Girls hockey officially kicked off their 2023-2024 season this week and their excitement is unmatched. After spending much time preparing in the offseason through gym workouts, practices, and team bonding events, the time has finally come for them to get back out on the ice. Leading the charge to TD Garden this year is Head Coach Courtney Turner and her three captains, seniors Reese Pompeo and Isabel McCabe and junior Caroline Doherty. After falling just short in an impressive run last year, they are out for revenge and ready to win it all.
As a three sport varsity athlete and captain, Reese Pompeo is very familiar with both leadership and competition and spoke to some of the things she is most excited for in the upcoming season; “I’m most excited for, and I think my coach is too, for the Duxbury games because they, along with NDA, are our biggest rivals. I think that’ll be good competition…so I’m really excited to see how that plays out because those will definitely be really good games.” Coach Turner said she hopes and foresees Pompeo will “be a very strong leader and take some of the things she learned in soccer from her teammates and from different experiences she had…to this team.”
Isabel McCabe has turned her focus this season to creating a positive environment where herself and her teammates can thrive. Especially this year where there are many incoming freshman already stepping into important roles, it will be vital that they are comfortable and encouraged as they get accustomed to varsity level competition. Her and Coach Turner agreed that the seniors and captains last year built the foundation for this desired environment and “were awesome leaders. That is a huge hole we have to fill but I think the three captains right now are stepping right into that” (Turner). McCabe added that “last year was just a very encouraging environment I loved it even when I was a freshman…we really want to keep that up.”
McCabe is excited to make her own impact on this young team and keep the same traditions she loved since she was a freshman. It seems that she is already making unbelievable strides in achieving the attitude and atmosphere of the team she believes is destined for success. She wants to win it all for her senior year but emphasized that the positive environment and togetherness of the team is going to be what propels them to TD Garden.
Coach Turner sent a very similar message as these two captains stating that “I don’t necessarily think the most skilled teams always win. It’s the teams who play together, buy into the system, and have a great culture that will do better down the line.” She is really looking forward to fostering a great environment for the girls and hopefully, taking them all the way to the championship. Turner and the captains were united in their goals for the season, and more importantly, the road they believe will take them as far as they are striving to go; this cohesive leadership team appears to be unstoppable.
Turner also mentioned who she believes some of her impact players are going to be this season. In addition to Pompeo and McCabe, she mentioned junior forward Addy Garrity, defenseman CC Flynn, freshman forward Hannah Lasch, freshman Shea Richardson who Coach Turner described as an “offensive defenseman,” sophomore Izzy McGarr and freshman Izzy Pulio in goal, and of course her junior captain Caroline Doherty who is a major goal scorer for the Harborwomen. Doherty is the seasoned powerhouse of their offensive line while their young goalies have already shown they will be able to back her by shutting it down in net this year. This ideal mix of a commanding offense and impenetrable defense gives the program the high hopes they have for this year.
Both on and off the ice these girls seem to have the right attitude to achieve their goal of winning a championship. Their strong leadership, comfortable environment, and undeniable skills are definitely a winning combination and we should expect great things out of them this season.