On March 24th the Frisch Cougars traveled to Livingston to take on the Kushner Cobras. Coming off a 7-1 loss to Ma’ayanot, Kushner was looking to rebound in its first home game of the season. Frisch on the other hand was coming off a 5-0 victory over Ramaz and looking to capitalize on its early season success.
Frisch came out strong, peppering the Kushner goalie, junior Lindey Benden, with shot after shot. But she would not let one by. Kushner picked up the pace giving the Frisch defenseman fits and kept the pressure on by keeping the ball in the offensive zone. Kushner struck first about half way through the first period. Off a failed clearing attempt, Rachel Mendelson put one home. Kushner continued to attack and got one more in the last minute of the period on a goal by Eliana Degen for a 2-0 lead. Backed by the incredible goaltending of the Kushner net minder, things did not look good for Frisch going into the intermission.
Frisch needed a break and finally got one. Less than a minute into the second period Ariella Katz got off a shot from the point that just seemed to avoid everyone in its path and rolled in through the screened goalies legs for first goal of the season. That little rolling “snow” ball turned into an avalanche as Michal Michael proceeded to score a natural hat-trick in the remainder of the period on three identical shots. Coming down the right side Michal snapped off three goals just inside the far post. The Cougars trailing by two after one now had a two goal lead after two.
In the third, Kushner tried to surmount a comeback, but Jessica Adler was steady in goal and would deny the Cobras any more cheers the rest of the way. Frisch picked up two more goals in the third: one on a brilliant tape-to-tape pass from Michal Michael to Kayla Blumenfeld in front who quickly buried the ball in the back of the net for her third goal of the year; the second by Michal “deja vu” Michael scoring her fourth goal of the night and 6th of the season on the same exact play as her previous three goals.
Kushner never let up, and has bright future with their mostly freshman team. But on this night it was the more experienced team winning by a final score of 6-2. Frisch next heads home with a 2-0 record to host Heschel on April 1st, where Frisch will unfurl its 2013 championship banner.
By Yaakov Lisker
