{"id":111062,"date":"2025-12-28T10:19:10","date_gmt":"2025-12-28T10:19:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/111062\/"},"modified":"2025-12-28T10:19:10","modified_gmt":"2025-12-28T10:19:10","slug":"sophie-marino-wins-first-start-for-long-beach-boys-ice-hockey-team","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/111062\/","title":{"rendered":"Sophie Marino wins first start for Long Beach boys ice hockey team"},"content":{"rendered":"

The clock finally hit zero, and the emotions for Long Beach ice hockey goalie Sophie Marino<\/a> were through the roof. <\/p>\n

After playing hockey for only 12 months, Marino was swarmed by celebrating teammates as the Long Beach boys varsity hockey team defeated Half Hollow Hills, 6-5, in a thrilling game at Long Beach Ice Arena on Dec. 19. Marino was a winner in her first career start. <\/p>\n

\u201cI started playing right around this time last year,\u201d said Marino, who hadn\u2019t played on a girls team beforehand. \u201cSo if you told me I was going to start a game against a really good team and we were going to win, I would\u2019ve never believed it. I would\u2019ve said there\u2019s no way.\u201d <\/p>\n

Just a year ago, Marino was a spectator at a Long Beach varsity hockey game when she noticed the team had only one goalie. Her brother, Matt, a former goalie for the team, jokingly told her she should do it. She laughed and agreed, saying, \u201cI\u2019ll do it.\u201d <\/p>\n

But soon after, she wasn\u2019t joking \u2014 and the journey began with her brother by her side. <\/p>\n

\u201cI watched Matt play his entire life, so I was inspired to try,\u201d she said. \u201cI started playing with his old gear and got on the ice as much as possible. He would shoot on me in the backyard and helped me so much. He is such an amazing coach.\u201d <\/p>\n

Matt\u2019s help and her work ethic helped her to make the team the following year as a senior. She is the only girl on the roster. Her gymnastics background and overall mentality helped her thrive. <\/p>\n

\u201cShe\u2019s not afraid of anything,\u201d Marines coach Rob Carson said. \u201cNothing fazes her and she knows how to stop the puck, which is crazy since she\u2019s only played for a year.\u201d <\/p>\n

Marino \u2014 who competed in the inaugural \u201cGirl-Star\u201d game on Tuesday \u2014played sparingly in games that already had been decided and never started a game until goalie Justin Mele suffered a minor ankle injury. <\/p>\n

\u201cWe went back and forth about it,\u201d Carson said. \u201cWe didn\u2019t want to push it, and we were like, \u2018Let\u2019s give her a shot,\u2019 and she rose to the occasion.\u201d <\/p>\n

\u201cI was so nervous,\u201d Marino said. \u201cBut Matt hyped me up, and my teammates really believed in me. Justin helped me so much and cheered me on.\u201d <\/p>\n

Half Hollow Hills entered the game with a high-powered offense, scoring 49 goals in its first six games. <\/p>\n

\u201cThe starting five never huddle up with the goalie,\u201d Carson said. \u201cBut before this game they did, and I knew right there they had her back. And they did the entire game regardless of what happened.\u201d <\/p>\n

The game produced big plays on both sides. It was tied at 3 in the second period when Long Beach went on the power play, but Half Hollow Hills broke free on a breakaway. Marino came up with a clutch save. <\/p>\n

\u201cI was so excited,\u201d she said. \u201cI knew it was a breakaway. I remembered everything Matt told me, tracked the puck and made the save, and the crowd went crazy.\u201d <\/p>\n

\u201cIt was a game-changing moment,\u201d Carson said. \u201cAfter that, the energy on the bench was super-high and we ended up pulling it off.\u201d <\/p>\n

In the third period, Marino made six saves on seven shots. It was 5-5 before Liam Young scored with 38 seconds left for the Marines. <\/p>\n

Long Beach won its third straight game and remained in second place in Nassau Conference I. Marino finished with 18 saves, including several timely stops. <\/p>\n

\u201cI was so excited, and it felt so unreal,\u201d she said. \u201cMy teammates are amazing and they were so supportive of me. Justin helped me before the game and everyone gave it their all. It was so amazing.\u201d <\/p>\n

Marino, who started late and is the only girl on her team, never lets it bother her \u2014 and doesn\u2019t think it should bother other girls either. <\/p>\n

\u201cThey should just believe in themselves,\u201d she said. \u201cIt\u2019s not too late to try. Just go out there and no matter what happens, give it your all.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The clock finally hit zero, and the emotions for Long Beach ice hockey goalie Sophie Marino were through…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":111063,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[33],"tags":[951,4629,131,133,132],"class_list":["post-111062","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-long-beach","tag-high-school","tag-ice-hockey","tag-long-beach","tag-long-beach-headlines","tag-long-beach-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/111062","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=111062"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/111062\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/111063"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=111062"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=111062"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=111062"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}