On Wednesday night, the Peabody/Lynnfield/North Reading (PLNR) girls hockey team hosted the St. Mary’s Spartans at the McVann-O’Keefe Rink. It was the Spartans who took home a 2-0 win after a tough battle.
The first period was a back-and-forth one, with PLNR having the majority of chances to start the period. Sophomore defenseman Chloe Gromko picked up the loose puck, deked her way around one of St. Mary’s defenders, and took a shot which created early momentum for PLNR.
St. Mary’s slowly grew into the game midway through the period. With six minutes left in the first, the Spartans’ assistant captain Maggie Pierce had a one-on-one opportunity, but the shot was saved by sophomore goalie Alyse Mutt – who finished with 24 saves.
Moments later, it was PLNR who sprung on the attack with freshman forward Abby Mcinerney breaking away from the Spartans’ defense, but the shot was smothered by St. Mary’s captain and goalie Angelina Catino, who finished with 20 saves. Though both teams had opportunities to score, they both went into the first intermission scoreless.
“I felt we did really well in the first period, playing our game and dictating some of the play. Our regroups looked awesome, very happy with the defensive performance,” PLNR’s head coach Michelle Roach said.
“I thought we had a slow start. I give credit to PLNR, I think they outworked us a lot in the first period. I think we cut some corners and we cannot do that against good teams,” St. Mary’s head coach Frank Paglicua said. “ I think PLNR outworked us and we had to get that grit going.”
Two minutes into the second period, Regan Sullivan committed a penalty and was sent to the box, giving PLNR an early power play. Although shorthanded, St. Mary’s found opportunities to break and had a few shots on goal, killing the penalty in the process.
One adjustment the Spartans made between periods involved pushing the defense up the ice. Paglicua was consistently urging his team to “hold the line” throughout the early part of the second period.
“In the first period, I thought we were giving up the line, giving up the red line, allowing [PLNR] to take over and dump the puck in. When we held the line, I thought we created some more turnovers. Once we closed our gaps in the second period, we created some turnovers and kept the pressure on,” Paglicua said.
The pressure from the Spartans continued in the second period as Kasey Litwin fired a quick shot on goal, but Mutti reacted quickly and caught it. When PLNR committed bodies forward, it allowed space behind where St. Mary’s had opportunities to exploit.
Under pressure from PLNR, St. Mary’s assistant captain Amanda Forziati took matters into her own hands. Forziati blocked a shot and picked up the puck before breaking away with pace. Charging towards PLNR’s goal, she unselfishly passed it across at the last moment to teammate Pierce who fired it home to make it 1-0 in favor of the Spartans.
A few minutes later, it was captain Jenna Chaplain who got on the scoresheet this time – assisted by Pierce. Pierce had an opportunity to make it 3-0 with under one minute left in the period, but Mutti stood tall to make the save.
“Two nice chances [including] a two-on-one chance. We had a couple of other opportunities in the second [period] as well. We just need to finish some of those chances,” Paglicua said.
There were plenty of opportunities for PLNR to get back into the game in the third period. Eight minutes in and PLNR was on the power play. PLNR fired a few shots at Catino, but nothing was getting past her on the night. Even when the team had a close-range shot, Catino kept coming up big for the Spartans to finish the game with a shutout.
Even with the loss, Roach remained positive, adding her team is made up of mostly freshmen and sophomores.
“It is a tough loss. It is disappointing but I have way more positives than I do negatives. St. Mary’s is a very good team,” Roach said. “If you take away five minutes of that second period, you have a pretty tight game.”
