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Entering their state championship, the South Girls Varsity Hockey team was competing against the only team they had lost to this season: Liggett. Liggett has won four state state championships in the past decade, including back-to-back-to-back championships in 2021, 2022 and 2023. Caption Maeve Hix ’24 was a big asset to the team this season and said she really believed in team bonding.
“The whole season the team continually improved and started to really bond,” Hix said. The pasta parties before the game helped everyone really get to know each other and it helped us all become closer. During practices we would work on things we wanted to improve in games and each game our skill became increasingly better.”
Because the team spent a lot of time bonding with each other, they became united on and off the ice. Going into the game with confidence in their teammates was really important and helped everyone’s mindset. The players said that everyone on the team had the same end goal, which fueled their hard work. They said the practices were intense but everyone put in the work and was motivated to win this game but so was Liggett.
“To prepare for states, the team hyper focused on the important things and the steps we had to take to get to our end goal,” Hix said. “We all put in the maximum work and effort. We also did some fun things leading up to states. We made locker banners for every player on the team and wrote special things on them. We also had a team lunch in school where we hung out together and made posters.”
The team was excited to get on the ice and play. South and Liggett both put up a fight the whole game and were determined to succeed. Bella Peruski ’25 said she was feeling the pressure of the game but when her teammate scored it was amazing.
“The game was tied most of the game, which kept everyone on edge, but when we scored in the third period on a power play, breaking the 0-0 tie (and) it felt so good,” Peruski said. “Overall the game was so fun to play in, everyone put 100 percent of their effort and did their job which is what really got us the championship.”
This was a great ending to a great season and all the hard work paid off. The game was very competitive and got heated at some points but the girls stayed strong together. Captain Evie Smith ’24 said she wanted the team to play the best they could.
“The game started out very intense and stressful,” Smith said. “It was 0-0 going into the third period. Liggett was getting angry and ended up getting a penalty. Maeve Hix got a pass on the power play and scored halfway through the third period. The game ended 1-0. The whole team was in shock after losing to them all season. They have been undefeated for the past three years and it’s always been close with South and Liggett.”
This was an amazing win for South and the team was beyond excited to have beat one of their biggest competitors.
“When the game ended, we all couldn’t contain our excitement,” Hix said. “The effort that we had put in paid off and it was the best feeling ever.”
