WOBURN — Mistakes will cost you in the state tournament.
The St. Mary’s girls hockey team learned that the hard way Friday night, with two critical mistakes leading directly to two goals given up as the No. 5 Spartans fell to No. 4 Woburn, 2-1, in the Division 1 quarterfinal at O’Brien Rink.
“I thought we came out and started the game a little slow, but I was really proud of how we fought back and continued to play hard,” said St. Mary’s coach Frank Pagliuca. “Unfortunately, we had a lot of chances that we just couldn’t finish on our end and we made some crucial mistakes that led to goals for Woburn. Their best player beat us, and sometimes that happens.”
That “best player” for Woburn was Angelina DiGirolamo, a freshman forward who scored both goals for the Tanners.
Jenna Chaplain scored the lone goal for the Spartans, while Kelsey Sullivan had one assist. Goalie Rhyan Pitari had 20 saves in the loss.
Woburn was the more aggressive team to open the game, outshooting St. Mary’s 9-4 in the first period. The Tanners were able to get a number of quality scoring chances from those shots, while the Spartans had trouble maintaining possession for extended periods of time. Eventually, Woburn was able to cash in on those scoring chances.
With just under 11 minutes to go in the first period, Woburn took possession near center ice. Lucia DiGirolamo sent a pass up ice to Angelina DiGirolamo, who burst into the offensive zone with no defenders in front of her. She fell down in the process, but she steadied herself enough to send a shot toward the net while sliding across the ice. The puck slipped between Pitari’s legs to give Woburn a 1-0 lead.
The Spartans performed better in the second period, getting a number of shots on net after finally settling down. After its second successful penalty kill of the game, St. Mary’s earned a powerpay of its own with just over four minutes to play in the second.
That’s when the Spartans struck.
After two unsuccessful chances to start off the powerplay, St. Mary’s regrouped in its own zone for another charge up the ice. Sullivan sent a pass out to Chaplain, who jolted up ice and weaved through defenders. Chaplain slipped into the offensive zone and let loose a hard wrist shot from the slot, which found its way under the crossbar to tie the score at 1-1.
From there, it was a bit of a struggle for St. Mary’s. The Spartans got plenty of chances in the final period, thanks largely to a 5-minute powerplay they were awarded with 10 minutes to play. But every time St. Mary’s tried to make something happen, Woburn goalie Amanda Essigmann turned it away.
Then came the big mistake for the Spartans. While still on the powerplay, St. Mary’s turned the puck over in the defensive zone when Angelina DiGirolamo jumped a passing lane. Angelina DiGirolamo darted into the zone, made one deke and buried the eventual game winner for Woburn.
St. Mary’s made a number of hurried attempts to score as the game drew to a close, but the Spartans simply couldn’t break through.
The loss marks the end of the season for St. Mary’s and the end of the high school hockey careers of seniors Sullivan, Megan Parthum, Zoe Solomons, Kate Gray and Lexie Turner.
“The seniors have meant so much to the program over the years, and this group has been huge for us,” said Pagliuca. “They came in with a great attitude and work ethic every day, and they were a big part of our success.”
At the same time, Pagliuca is encouraged by the play of the younger members of the roster and thinks that this loss could be a building block for the future.
“We’ve got a lot of younger players who gained some experience from this, so the goal now is to take that experience and use it to make us better,” Pagliuca said. “Hopefully we can take this game, the way we played and the way it felt to lose, and we can turn that into a positive for us moving forward.”
St. Mary’s closes out the season at 16-3-4.