ITEM PHOTO BY KATIE MORRISON
St. Mary’s goalie Emily Stephenson celebrates as the buzzer sounds.
By KATIE MORRISON
LYNN — St. Mary’s girls hockey coach Frank Pagliuca said he thinks his team played its best full game of the season in its playoff opener against Duxbury Saturday night.
The Spartans needed to bring their A-game to shut down a tough No. 8 Dragons team, as St. Mary’s held on for a 1-0 win in a MIAA Division 1 girls hockey state tournament first round game at Connery Rink.
No. 8 St. Mary’s (14-4-3) has a tall task ahead as it advances to take on top-seeded Needham Tuesday at 6 in Woburn.
For a game with little offense, there was no shortage of action. Both teams created chances throughout the game. With just under six minutes gone in the first period, St. Mary’s Natalie Mellen picked up the puck in the neutral zone and broke away from the defense. Duxbury (12-5-4) goalie Erin Matthews stopped Mellen’s shot, but the Spartan forward followed her shot and chipped the rebound into the net. But before Mellen knocked it in, a referee blew the play dead.
Pagliuca said the ref explained he lost sight of the puck and mistakenly stopped play. But regardless, the goal was waved off.
But the Spartans kept the pressure up the remainder of the period and into the second. It paid off just over a minute into the middle period, as Aylah Cioffi found Mady Hentosh open at the right point, and Hentosh sent a slap shot past Matthews. Marina DiBiasio also earned an assist on the goal.
“We could have sulked on (the waved off goal) and let Duxbury come back, but we didn’t,” Pagliuca said. “We kept grinding and grinding. We didn’t get too high or too low after that situation. I’m really proud of how their mental toughness showed tonight.”
The Spartans came out hot in the third period, but Duxbury turned it on midway through, keeping the St. Mary’s defense and goalie Emily Stephenson on their toes. The Dragons won a faceoff in St. Mary’s end with 25 seconds left, and with under 10 seconds on the clock, Stephenson, who had come up with several big saves throughout the contest, made a sprawling kick save on a shot from the right point. The Spartans held off the Dragons to run out the clock.
“(Stephenson) was outstanding, her best game of the year,” Pagliuca said. “She was relaxed and confident, and steps up in big games, and tonight we needed her to step up.
“I’m proud of our kids,” Pagliuca added. “I thought they really came to play, especially since it’s the last time these seniors will play in this building.”
