It has been a bumpy ride for the Whitman-Hanson/Pembroke girls hockey team this season, but if they want it to continue into the MIAA tournament for the third straight season, they now face an uphill battle and can’t wait any longer for their offense to come around.

The Duxbury Dragons spoiled one of the best performances of the season by WHP goalie Kelly Travers by beating the girls for the second time this season 2-0 at The Bog Saturday in a game where WHP managed only a dozen shots on goal. The girls followed with a 5-0 shutout loss to state champions St. Mary’s to fall three games below .500.

Though the loss to Duxbury looks much closer in the box score than the 6-2 loss the Dragons handed WHP in their first meeting of the season on Jan. 6, that game was deadlocked 2-2 heading into the third period before Duxbury put the game away, with WHP providing more offensive pressure.

“Yes it was 2-0, but we were lucky our goalie played such a good game,” head coach Chris Googins said. “Offensively, we didn’t pose much of a threat.”

Both teams controlled the play for stretches of the first period, but the Dragons dominated the final two minutes of the frame and kept WHP skating backwards for most of the next two periods. WHP had trouble sustaining offense, even during a five-on-three power play in the third period, and had to settle mostly for shots from the blue line.

“You are not going to get much offensive production with 12 shots for the game,” Googins said. “It’s not like there weren’t any loose pucks in front of their net; they just did a good job clearing it out.”

Travers was a bright spot in the loss for the girls, stopping 28 shots as Duxbury peppered her net for most of the second and third period and keeping WHP within striking distance.

“What really impressed me about Kelly was that she stopped the second shot,” Googins said. “It looked like they had an open net, and then she came out of nowhere with a glove or a blocker. She really kept us in the game.”

While Travers had the Dragons’ number in even play, the Dragons were able to break through twice on the power play. Duxbury used their numbers in the second period to set up a screen in front of Travers, allowing Molly O’Sullivan’s wrister to clang on the crossbar and into the back of the net 2:30 into the frame.

The Dragons used their man-advantage again to pad their lead in the third when Hannah Murphy knocked a third rebound through a pile of bodies in front of Travers’ goal with 4:33 left to play.

“We only play seven or eight kids and when they are out there with a man down, it’s difficult to get their wind back,” Googins said. “You can’t take any penalties and good teams like that are going to burn you. We need some of our leaders not to take foolish penalties, plain and simple.”

The losses drop WHP to 6-9 with five games left to play. A return to the postseason is not out of the question for the girls, but their road will be challenging as they face Barnstable, followed by Hingham — a team the girls have never beaten.

“We’ve still got a shot,” Googins said. “We’re playing some great teams, but the magic number is 20 points however you can get to it.”

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