Now a 17-year-old senior, Hollingsworth has spent more than a third of her life donning a red and blue jersey for Methuen/Tewksbury, the defending Division 1 champion.
The 5-foot-4-inch Hollingsworth has won 103 games for the Red Rangers, owns a .944 career save percentage and is about to embark upon her sixth state tournament. She has helped backstop the program to a pair of state final appearances, reaching the pinnacle last March with a spectacular 34-save performance in a 2-1 double-overtime win over Austin Prep at TD Garden.
Her impact on the program is immeasurable.
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“It’s pretty cool, not a lot of people get to say that,” Hollingsworth said of her stature as a six-year starter. “It means a lot to me to be able to call this place my home.”
If Methuen/Tewksbury is her home, then between the pipes is her sanctuary.
Settling in, Hollingsworth often will stretch out her arms to reassure her place between posts, but her overwhelming poise suggests she rarely loses track of her position. She’s quick with the glove and has a knack for seeking out loose pucks amongst chaos in the crease.
While she’s become more vocal through the years, Hollingsworth displays quiet confidence. She lets her red, white and blue pads and blocker — faded and bruised from all the times she’s denied an opponent — do most of the talking.
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But her final campaign has presented a new, daunting challenge.
The Red Rangers have less firepower than a year ago minus All-Scholastic selections Julia Masotta and Cassidy Gruning. M/T has scored more than three goals just three times this season. All of its losses — aside from a 3-1 setback to Westford Academy on Saturday — have been by one goal. That often puts Hollingsworth in tight, low-scoring games.
“I feel like it’s definitely a lot of pressure,” Hollingsworth acknowledged. “We definitely have a target on our back. We either lose or it’s a tough game, and I almost always hear from someone on the other team or a coach say, ‘You just beat the defending state champs.’ Everybody looks at us like that.”
Sarah Oteri, the coach for five of Hollingsworth’s six varsity seasons, said the subject is not discussed often, but there is definitely pressure.
“When you start out so well, you want to keep doing that,” Oteri said. “It’s the pressure to see what you can do next. But she is very calm, she’s very poised.
“That’s the sign of a good player — playing the best when your best is needed. That’s what she does.”
This postseason will require Hollingsworth’s best one final time. She has the Boston skyline on the back of her mask as a reminder of what the goal is.
She vividly remembers the three glove saves she made in the overtime periods of last year’s final, and recalls the “Kaia” chant that rained down from the TD Garden crowd.
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“[Kaia is] amazing, obviously you see that with the stats and the videos, and she’s gotten so much better with every year,” said defenseman Brenna Greene, a senior captain from Methuen who also has been a six-year varsity player for the program. “I have gotten so used to the way she plays, and she has gotten used to the way I play. It’s unspoken things like that.”
Hollingsworth is not sure, emotionally, what it will feel like when she takes off her Methuen/Tewksbury jersey for the the final time, or what it will be like to play in another uniform — she has verbally committed to play at Salem State.
“It’s been a pretty special experience,” Hollingsworth said. “Some people who play for four years don’t even make the tournament once . . .
“I’ve really dedicated myself to this sport and especially to Methuen/Tewksbury,” she added. “They really are my family and I honestly don’t know how I could play without them.”
Ice chips
■ With a last-minute 3-2 win over Methuen/Tewksbury, the top-ranked Haverhill/Pentucket/North Andover co-op clinched its first Merrimack Valley/Dual County title in program history.
A goal from Eliana Kane with 20 seconds left gave HPNA its first win over the Red Rangers in 13 meetings. Before the pivotal matchup, HPNA coach Gary Kane, Eliana’s father, recited Herb Brooks’s pregame speech to his 1980 United States men’s hockey team, delivered by Kurt Russell in the movie “Miracle.”
“It’s a cliche . . . but about half the girls have never seen the movie,” Gary Kane said. “But on the bench tied 2-2 in the third, you could hear them saying, ‘this is our time.’ That was cool.”
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“It was really inspiring,” Eliana Kane added. “You know, HPNA, we’ve really built it up. The girls in the first days got no respect. All season we’ve been working to get that back . . . We’re riding their legacy and they’re the ones that got us here. We’re all so thankful for the girls that came before. We went from barely having jerseys to here . . . league champs.”
■ The MIAA tourney pairings will be released Friday morning, a day after the conclusion of the regular season. Preliminary round games get underway Sunday, beginning a three-week march to the state finals Sunday, March 15 at TD Garden.
■Tewksbury senior Tori Schille, a defender for the defending D1 state champion Red Rangers, was named the MIAA Student-Athlete of the Month for January.
Schille, who earned a perfect score on the math section of her SAT test in the fall (while captaining the field hockey team), is an AP and honors level student, four-year class president, and treasurer of DECA. She also organized the annual Meghan McCarthy Fashion Show at Tewksbury this year, raising more than $16,000 for cancer research, and volunteers with learn-to-play hockey programs, Project Home Again, and other organizations.
“Tori has the ability to focus on both academics and athletics, and makes a huge impact both in school and on the ice,” Oteri said.
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■ Mikal Franklin is quickly making a name for herself at Framingham. Just a freshman, she stopped her 500th shot during Wednesday’s 4-2 loss to Brookline. Coach Casey Diana said no record for that statistic has been kept by the program, so there’s no way to be sure where she stands. But Franklin certainly is rising quickly to the top.
■ Bishop Fenwick finished the regular season 12-5-3, the best record in program history. The top-ranked Haverhill/Pentucket/North Andover co-op, coming off a 6-10-2 season, already has skated to a program-best 17-0-2, and has the chance to finish off its first undefeated season Wednesday against league rival Andover. Dennis-Yarmouth won the inaugural Cape & Islands League title.
■ St. Mary’s senior Lexie Turner , a transfer from Matignon, has committed to play at Salem State next year. At the end of January, classmate Zoe Solomons announced her commitment to Southern Maine.
Games to watch
No. 18 Andover at No. 1 HPNA, Wednesday, 5 p.m. — The Golden Warriors are 4-0-1 in their last five games, but if Haverhill/Pentucket/North Andover can stop its league rival, it will finish with an undefeated regular season for the first time in program history.
Lincoln-Sudbury at Waltham, Wednesday, 7 p.m. — The host Hawks are seeking to improve tournament seeding, but could run into trouble with MVC/DCL Small rival L-S. The two teams tied, 1-1, on Jan. 18.
No. 7 Woburn at No. 2 Wellesley, Thursday, 4 p.m. — Two top 10 teams battle for the only time this year in a regular-season finale.
No. 6 Arlington at Hingham, Thursday, 6 p.m. — With two quality teams looking to boost their resume for tournament seedings, this matchup is the last opportunity to see a top 10 team in action before the postseason.
Andover vs. Reading, Thursday, 8 p.m. — Itching for more? Take in the final matchup on the regular-season slate in the Hingham Showcase at Pilgrim Showcase.
Jenna Ciccotelli also contributed. Michael McMahon can be reached at mcman92@gmail.com.
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