Sophomore forward Brooke Nelson’s performance carried the Crimson Tide to a massive victory. She scored four goals in Concord’s quarterfinal win against the No. 7 Kingswood-Prospect Mountain KnightWolves (12-8-0). Not only did she account for half of the Tide’s goals in the 8-2 win, but she also had a hat trick of assists to decisively send the Tide (15-4-0) to the final four.

“Their defense backed up a lot into their goalie, which I used against the goalie to screen her, and I found out that shooting right by her ear in between her glove, her blocker, it went in every single time. So I just shot there every time and it just went in,” Nelson said.

The second-seeded Tide girls came out of the gate hot, scoring just 27 seconds into the game. Nelson grabbed a puck mid-air, threw it down quickly and flicked it forward to senior forward Claire Brown who, with her back turned to goal, quickly checked the goalie behind her and fired a backhand shot that slotted into the bottom right corner.

From the start, it seemed like Concord might run away with it as they kept the puck in the KnightWolves’ zone and managed 13 shots on target early. Kingswood-Prospect Mountain’s sophomore goalie Aliyah Arsenault quickly got down on her pads and kept her team in the game.

Six minutes in, the Knightwolves got a lucky break when a puck snuck through junior goalie Kaylee DelloIacono’s pads and sophomore forward Cassidy Libby pushed it past the line. Concord kept their composure and kept attacking.

The game remained close through half of the second as Concord scored soon after the start of the period but the KnightWolves found a way to equalize again. However, the Tide’s offense kept on causing problems, and the KnightWolves started racking up penalties for slashing, tripping and cross-checking. This was something head coach Kate Billings prepared her team for. 

These stoppages stunted their offense and allowed Concord to grow confident in their pursuit of regaining the lead. The many penalties caused tensions to rise and both teams to start getting more physical, but the Tide girls found a way through with their third goal of the night coming from junior forward Elliana Wing assisted by Brown, Wing’s second of the night.

“We already, in the locker room, talked about keeping our heads, but after each period we just reiterated that because we’d rather be on the power play all day. So I was very proud of how well they kept their composure out there because it got chippy,” Billings said. 

After that, Concord ran away with the game and Nelson notched a hat trick in the third period to put the game away. Brown finished the night with one goal and two assists, senior defenseman Abigail Colby also had two assists and senior forward Emelia Raimo had a goal and an assist to round out the Tide’s all-around dominant performance. In total, Concord outshot the KnightWolves, 41-16.

“I think it’s a huge win. I think the first period started out rough and I think we really just came together as a team, just played the rest of the game strong,” Nelson said. “I think it's a really good segue into our next game against Hanover.”

In Tuesday evening’s semifinal at Everett Arena, Concord will play the defending champions, No. 3 Hanover (14-4-0). Concord lost to the Bears, 9-2, in the regular season. However, that was the first game of the regular season in December and the Concord girls’ offense and defense are working like a well-oiled machine at this point in the season. 

“The energy that we had tonight, they all came ready to play, and we need that again on Tuesday against Hanover,” said Billings. “But we’re a completely different team from when we played them in our first game of the season. So we’re really excited to see how we match up against them.”

Alexander Rapp can be reached at arapp@cmonitor.com