ITEM FILE PHOTO
Sydney Adamson scored a goal for Lynn/Winthrop Saturday.
By HAROLD RIVERA
GROTON — When the Lynn/Winthrop girls hockey team trooped up to Groton Academy for Saturday afternoon’s MIAA Division 1 first-round clash against Westford Academy, the hope was for a joyful bus ride back home.
Alas for the Bulldawgs, Westford had other plans.
Sydney Adamson and McKayla Norris each scored a goal in the game’s closing minutes but No. 11 Lynn/Winthrop fell, 4-2, to the No. 6 Grey Ghosts at Groton Academy’s Frank O’Brien Rink.
For Westford, Kayleigh Butler notched a hat trick and Colleen Ellis added a goal.
“She’s (Butler) and excellent player,” Lynn/Winthrop coach Anthony Martucci said. “Fantastic player.”
Norris had the first clean look of the game when she sent a shot towards Westford goalie Alexis Dean two minutes into the contest. Dean, a freshman, denied the early attempt.
Emma Carleton followed with a shot a minute later but Dean stopped that too, and the game remained scoreless. With 10:58 to play in the opening period, Butler scored the first goal of the game to put Westford ahead 1-0. Assists on the goal came from Ellis and Jacqueline Ricko.
A minute and a half later, Butler found the back of the net, again, and the Bulldawgs were staring at an early 2-0 deficit.
“We felt that we were playing pretty good at that point,” Martucci said. “We had some control in the offensive zone, not a ton of shots, but we had the play going our way a little bit and then two go in our net and that kind of puts you off.”
Norris looked to put Lynn/Winthrop on the board in the final minute of the period but her shot was saved and Westford led 2-0 after one.
“We were getting shots but they weren’t quality scoring chances,” Martucci said. “They weren’t getting too many quality chances either but they capitalized on the ones they did get, and we didn’t.”
The first period didn’t start the way the Bulldawgs had hoped it would. Neither did the second.
With 13:52 remaining in the second period, Butler’s slapshot found the net and the Grey Ghosts led 3-0. Kelly DeMarco and Hannah Keefe earned assists on the play.
Lynn/Winthrop goalie Gretchen Howard and the Bulldawgs caught a break when Catherine Mahanna’s shot with 7:05 to play landed barely over the top crossbar. Despite the tough break, the Grey Ghosts led 3-0 after two and remained in control.
Ellis put the puck in the net with 8:02 to play in the third period, giving the Grey Ghosts a 4-0 advantage. With a four-goal deficit, the Bulldawgs were desperate for offense in hopes of keeping pace.
In the final minutes of the period, they found it.
On a power play opportunity, Adamson’s shot with 2:31 remaining in the game beat Dean, who was perfect in net up until that goal, and Lynn/Winthrop was on the board at 4-1. Assists on the goal came from Mia Price and Bella Perrotti.
Things got much more interesting when Norris, assisted by Price, found the net with 57 seconds on the clock to make it a two-goal game at 4-2.
The late heroics by Adamson and Norris were a little too late, and Westford held on for the 4-2 win.
