ROYAL OAK – The host Royal Oak Ravens scored in the opening minute and rolled to a 3-0 win over the Novi Wildcats Tuesday night.
Kaitlyn Eberhardt got behind everyone to slot a shot into the empty net just 53 seconds into the game and stake the Ravens to an early lead.
After a rough start, the Wildcats settled into the game, and the teams went back and forth without creating many chances. Royal Oak had the better of play, but it wasn’t until the final minute of the opening half that the Ravens scored again as Reagan Mason tapped in a cross from in tight to double the advantage before halftime.
Novi’s best chances came in the second half, but Ravens goalie Kayla Faulkner came up big when needed, particularly with a pair of quick leaping saves midway through the second half. Eventually, the Ravens added another goal, the final one coming by Alexis Zimmy to close things out.
Overall, Royal Oak’s offense looked to be in midseason form despite this being their first game of the season.
“We’ve got tons of speed on this team, and they mesh really well,” Ravens head coach Melissa VanGorden said. “The team itself has really come together. We’ve really build a culture to get everybody to play for ‘we’ before ‘me’ type of mentality. I think everyone is stepping up into roles that they know they can perform well in. So we’re mixing it up and going out there and having fun.”
Novi goalie Riley Boujoulian made six saves for the Wildcats, who are still putting things together due to injuries and availability. The Wildcats were missing a handful of players Tuesday night and had a different lineup from last week’s win over Livonia Stevenson that opened their spring.
“We have a little bit of a younger team and a lot of injuries, and I think things sped up for us,” Wildcats assistant coach Ken Fenchel said. “I think it’s just getting used to everything all at once, early-season stuff, and it’s stuff that now we have a chance to work on it and get better the rest of the year.”
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Royal Oak (1-0), who won its playoff opener last season over Ferndale before losing to regional finalist Troy, has a scrimmage on Wednesday before taking quite a bit of time off. The Ravens’ next official game is not until after spring break when they travel to Clarkston to open up OAA White play on April 8.
“I think it was a good game for us to start with and come out strong. We know Novi is talented. They have a lot of good players,” VanGorden said.
Novi (1-1) hosts Swartz Creek on Thursday before going on spring break as well.
“I think we had a little bit better second half. We changed some things around, and it gave us a chance to improve, and we’ll try it again on Thursday,” Fenchel said. “Overall, I was happy that we got going a bit and that we stuck with it,” he added.