With 15 seconds to go in the second period and the puck behind her own net, Chelsea Barrett could have sat back and let time expire.

Instead the Scarborough freshman saw the moment as another opportunity. She chased down the puck, skated through several opponents and scored with :06.8 on the clock, giving the Red Storm a 3-1 lead against Gorham.

The Rams fought back with two goals in the final frame and outshot Scarborough, 23-15, but Barrett’s skill and quickness were too much. Her three goals catapulted her team to a 4-3 win in an exciting contest Saturday at USM.

“(Barrett has) definitely picked up the intensity of the other girls on the team, especially her linemates,” said Storm coach Bre Fortiguerra. “So it’s not only good just to have her because she is a ringer, but she brings it out in everyone else, too.”

The game was marked by good passing and impressive goaltending. Anyone who has followed the development of girls hockey in the state, which is still not sanctioned by the Maine Principals’ Association, will notice that the skill level among girls is clearly rising.

Much of the first period was filled with back-and-forth action, as Barrett had a couple of chances, but was stymied for a while by Rachel Lolly, the Gorham field hockey goalkeeper who converted to the same position for the ice hockey team.

In just her third game between the pipes, Lolly turned away Barrett on a breakaway midway through the period and then gloved a shot that Barrett tried to flip by her five minutes later.

In the meantime, Hilary Innes took a feed at the left corner of the crease, but shot just wide, and Adrienne Rosenblatt’s breakaway on a pass from Ashley Martin was broken up by Sarah Mills, Scarborough’s experienced netminder.

Barrett got her team on the board with a power play goal in the last 90 seconds of the first. After bringing the puck down the middle, she briefly lost it out front, then retrieved it and scored. Five minutes into the second period, Barrett struck again, slipping the puck past Lolly though a defender clung to the forward’s jersey.

Katie Flaherty got the Rams into the scoring column when she came over the blue line and fired a shot stick-side, past Mills. It was then that Barrett struck to complete her hat trick, fetching the loose puck with seconds to go and giving the Red Storm a 3-1 lead going into the final period.

“I’ve been playing with boys ever since third grade,” said Barrett, explaining her skills.

Innes made it a one goal game again early in the third when she was again parked at the corner of the crease and put in a feed that came across.

Lolly kept the game close when she stopped a shot by Paige Smith through a Barrett screen, but the duo teamed up again on the gamewinner when Barrett rushed up the ice and put the puck out front. Smith was there to flip it in.

Martin added a goal for Gorham in the last minute, but her team couldn’t get any more shots past Mills, who made 20 saves. Lolly stopped 11 shots.

“We’ve had a little rough start,” said Martin, “but we’re coming together.”

When asked about the difference in the game, the Rams freshman said, “This kid right here,” motioning toward Barrett. “She blew by me a couple times.”

Chris Bowring, Gorham’s coach, is pleased with the way his team is shaping up. Besides the addition of Martin to the squad, another freshman, Caitlin Caldwell, is the center on the first line.

“The girls skated hard and moved the puck around really well,” Bowring said.

“I think it was a great game. We definitely played really hard,” said senior captain Becky Muller, who is also proud of the way the Rams are developing.

“This year we have 26 girls signed up, which is a lot more than last year, and we have two teams, varsity and JV. A lot of these girls have gone to camps over the summer, so they got a lot faster,” Muller said. “We have a lot of returning players on varsity and a few new girls, which is nice.”