LYNN — The St. Mary’s girls hockey team came out aggressive from the opening faceoff Monday evening, pounding shots on net en route to a 4-0 win over Lexington in a non-conference bout at Connery Rink. The Spartans outshot Lexington 23-9 in the victory.
“We knew coming in that Lexington was a strong skating team and they did a good job of packing things in around the net to make it tough early on,” said St. Mary’s coach Frank Pagliuca. “I think we took a little too long to get going in the first period, but we opened things up as the game went on and we were able to get some goals.”
Maggie Pierce was the offensive leader for St. Mary’s with three goals.
“Maggie had a great game out there,” said Pagliuca. “She’s been playing really well lately, so it’s great to see her have a game like this where she nets a few goals.”
Megan Parthum scored one goal, while Kelsey Sullivan notched two assists. Zoe Solomons, Haylie Grossman, Lexie Turner, Jenna Chaplain and Felicia D’Alessandro each had one assist.
Goalie Angelina Catino only needed nine saves to record the shutout, but many of those saves came at critical points in the game.
“Sometimes when you dominate possession of the puck for most of the game, when the other team gets out in transition it can be tough on a goalie,” Pagliuca said. “But Ang stepped up every time her number was called.”
The Spartans got off to a furious start in terms of shots on net, sending nine shots on goal in the opening period. Lexington goalie Lilia Dawson turned away the first eight shots, but near the end of the first period St. Mary’s finally broke through. With just over two minutes left in the period, Chaplain sent a pass in front of the net for Pierce to make it 1-0 after one.
The second period was much of the same. The Spartans threw shot after shot on net for the majority of the period, then they finally cashed in on a breakaway from Pierce to make it 2-0 after two periods.
The third period saw St. Mary’s extend its lead early. After earning a powerplay opportunity in the early minutes, Pierce netted her hat-trick goal off of a faceoff to make it 3-0 with just over 10 minutes to play. Less than a minute later, Parthum capped off the scoring for St. Mary’s with a wrist shot from the top of the right circle to make it 4-0 and seal the win.
The win keeps the Spartans’ unbeaten streak alive, as St. Mary’s is now 6-0-3 on the year. With Catholic Central League matchups with Arlington Catholic and Archbishop Williams on the horizon, Pagliuca knows that his team needs to remain focused.
“Our first goal, no matter what, is making it to the state tournament,” said Pagliuca. “We’re two points closer to that now, so we just have to stay focused. The meat of our schedule is coming up over the next two weeks, so we’ve got to be ready to play every game.”
St. Mary’s takes on Arlington Catholic Wednesday evening (6).