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“I drank 10 bottles of water a day,’’ said Shepherd, a junior at Fontbonne Academy in Milton.
“To hear that I was dehydrated was weird for my parents; I’m always drinking water, Gatorade, or Propel.’’
The Quincy resident was diagnosed with vasovagal syncope after collapsing on the softball field as a freshman. The non-life-threatening condition decreases blood pressure and blood flow to the brain, resulting in dizziness or fainting.
Shepherd combats the disorder with sodium pills, consuming eight to 12 cups of water per day, and getting enough rest.
“When it first started happening, I didn’t know what to do - I would just drink as much as I could and thought I’d be fine, then I rushed off to the bathroom,’’ Shepherd said. “Now that I’m used to it, I know how to judge it, when to have a sip [of water] and when to drink a bottle.’’
Her condition has hardly slowed her down on the ice, the volleyball court, or the softball diamond. She collected hat tricks in both the state semifinals and the state final to power Fontbonne to the Division 2 girls’ hockey championship last March, was named to the Catholic Conference all-star team, and was a Globe All-Scholastic.
With Shepherd netting a pair of goals and an assist, the Ducks opened the season with a 5-0 win over Boston Latin School last week. The victory extended the squad’s shutout streak started last season by Kristen Conners, who became the first MIAA goalie in history, male of female, to blank every postseason opponent en route to a state championship.
Conners is now a freshman at New England College, but her backup, junior Sam Curly, delivered 15 saves in the opener. Freshman goalie Lan Crofton will also see significant minutes in goal.
“That’s what makes me less nervous when I’m playing, the fact that [Shepherd] is going to stop them from coming in on me or get a goal right back,’’ Curly said. “She does it every single time.’’
Facing double- and triple-teams, Shepherd may have trouble matching last year’s 35-goal, nine-assist output. But Fontbonne coach Bob Huxley believes his top line of Shepherd, junior Elizabeth Coleman (16 points last year), and senior Catherine Flaherty (22) can be the most productive in the state.
She laced up her first skates at age 7, and started playing hockey the same year. Though she was the first in her family to play hockey (her father, Jerry, played basketball at Nichols), her parents were a rather easy sell on her suiting up for a travel team.
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“The fact that I loved going to practice at 5:30 in the morning - they knew it was something I enjoyed and they said, ‘You know what, we’re willing to spend the money,’ ’’ said Shepherd, who was introduced to the game by neighborhood boys on rollerblades.
“They boys would make you look silly with their stick handling. It made me want to learn how to do it. I wanted to be faster and do that stuff they did to make me a better player.’’
Shepherd had a similar experience the summer before her sophomore year when she was invited to train with some of the best female high school players in the nation at the Community Olympic Development Program in St. Paul, Minn.
“I’d much rather be a little fish and kind of look up at the girls who play hockey all year long,’’ she said. “It’s motivating to keep up with them. For me, my drive is there, and I want to be the best player I can be every shift, be ready to play; ready to play up with them.’’
But Shepherd had her worst vasovagal syncope attack to date in Minnesota when she fainted in a game and was sent home early.
“You never know when it can happen,’’ Shepherd said. “When it happened on the ice, it was very scary for me.’’
She turned down an invitation to play in Minnesota last summer, partly because she was afraid of getting sick again and partially because she wanted to compete in summer softball and volleyball with her friends. Although next summer she will focus on hockey, she probably won’t give up volleyball and softball during the school year. She will only return to Minnesota if she feels her dream of playing Division 1 hockey, preferably at Boston University, needs a boost.
“Right now we’re focused on winning as many games as possible and meshing as a team,’’ Shepherd said. “The team chemistry is already unbelievable. It’s outrageous already.’’
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