The Harborwomen dropped a 4-1 decision on the road Monday.

WELLESLEY – For Hingham High girls hockey, it’s slowly coming together, even if the results aren’t there yet.

The Harborwomen dropped a 4-1 decision to Wellesley on Monday night, but coach Tom Findley sees a silver lining.

 “We are starting to play much, much better,” he said. “If this was played a few weeks from now, we might have won. Being a mid-year game, we learned a few lessons.”

 The Harborwomen (3-5-1) have had an up-and-down campaign. After losing three games to start the season, it’s taken a while to find their groove.

 “It was a fast-paced game,” said Findley. “It was just kind of how the game went, it was played like a tight game. It was very back and forth.”

 The visitors jumped out to an early 1-0 start off the stick of Lizzy Jacobson, but they wouldn’t tally again. The Raiders (5-2-1) got one back on the power play with a tally from Phoebe Lawrence.

 From there, the Harborwomen couldn’t stop the onslaught, taking seven penalties.

 But it was a shorthanded goal from the Raiders near the end of the second period that would give them the lead for good. Sophomore Mackenzie O’Neil found the back of the cage.

 Jenna Harrison added to the lead to start the third period, and with two minutes remaining, Lawrence struck again for the 4-1 final.

 Hingham’s Leah White made 22 saves. Wellesley’s Liddy Schultz had 21.

 While White certainly performed well, the Hingham offense is still figuring out how to get its scoring touch.

 “We have to be better around the net,” said Findley. “We had plenty of opportunities to put it in the net and just didn’t.”

 The biggest concern is the penalties. Seven power plays is a lot against any team, but especially against the surging Raiders, who were fresh off handing Braintree its first loss of the season on Saturday.

 “They had quite a few power plays there,” said Findley. “You just can’t take that many penalties against a good, well-coached team like that.”

 The Harborwomen are progressing, and there’s still a lot of hockey left to be played. It won’t get any easier, though, with Cohasset/Hanover and Notre Dame Academy coming up.

 At least it seems like Hingham might finally be finding an identity on the ice as a difficult team to compete against. Before Monday, the Harborwomen battled out a 1-1 tie against Plymouth North/South (7-1-1), a team that has excelled lately.

 “I like the fight in our kids,” Findley said. “They’ve become tough to play against, especially in the last two games. I think it’s just sheer hard work and practicing hard. Kids are starting to understand, we can’t improve our skill-set, but we can get better at our compete level.”