It’s not very common for a hockey team’s goalie to be one of its captains. But for Becca Freda, goalie for Team Montgomery in the Maryland Student Hockey League (MSHL) girls division, her poise and confidence make her an obvious choice to wear the “C.”
Montgomery lost the state championship, 7-3, to Eastern Wednesday night, but they would have never gotten there without Freda.
The senior at Walter Johnson High School is this week’s Montgomery County High School Athlete of the Week.
Each week throughout the school year, the Montgomery County Sports Hall of Fame is partnering with Montgomery Community Media to honor an Athlete of the Week from the county’s more than 40 public and private high schools.
Congratulations Ladies! pic.twitter.com/EGvFpNpFMq
— Maryland Student Hockey League (@HockeyMSHL) February 21, 2024
“It’s hard to find that total package in a goalie of the personality, the skill and the experience,” Montgomery head coach Larry Boles told MCM. “It’s not a surprise that she led us to the state championship.”
Montgomery finished fourth in the regular season in a conference with Eastern, Howard, North Eastern, and Southern. Monocacy, another member of the girls division, did not field a team this year.
A 5-4 upset win over top-seeded Howard in the state semifinal highlighted Freda’s all-conference-caliber season. She made at least 50 saves in both playoff games.
Becca Freda hugs the post vs. Eastern in the MSHL Girls Championship, Feb. 28, 2024. Taken by Michael Horowitz, courtesy of Coach Boles.
“She has ice water in her veins, all those cliches, and that calmness permeates through the team,” Boles said. “She makes huge saves, she makes flurries of saves, she makes unexpected saves. And the team feeds on that.”
The MSHL is the only public high school hockey league in the state that features a girls conference. Teams are regional, meaning that players are not separated by school.
Freda is one of many in the league who also plays for their high school’s coed program. She posted a 5-3 record across varsity and JV with Walter Johnson, in addition to eight games with Montgomery.
In those 16 games, Freda stopped 86.1% of the nearly 700 total shots she faced. She also completed two shutouts.
Featured photo of Becca Freda courtesy of Donnie Freda.
