English girls hockey tries for comeback, but can’t complete it against Beverly

REVERE – It’s usually always difficult for any hockey team to bounce back from a quick 3-0 deficit and to emerge with a victory. The Lynn English girls hockey team tried to do just that on Saturday evening, when it found itself behind from just that score in the early moments against Beverly.Lynn scored twice in the second stanza to get to within 3-2, but a Beverly score late in the period, and a pair of third-period goals, offset English, 6-2, at Cronin Rink.It took the Panthers all of 16 seconds to take the lead for good, as they won the opening faceoff and immediately attacked the Lynn end. Goalie Amanda Witunsky stopped the initial Beverly chances, but she couldn’t halt forward Rachel Konaxis. She picked up the loose puck at the blue line, and beat the goalie to the left side for the game’s first score. It was the first of her three (unassisted) goals on the evening.Beverly netted a pair of goals just 23 seconds apart only minutes later to put English further behind. The Panthers, who had been storming the Lynn zone with great consistency, continued to do so right after the three-minute mark. Defenseman Taylor Cross skated down the left side of the ice into English territory, and fired a wrist shot to the lower right corner. Witunsky made the initial stop, but forward Courtney McTague (one of three Saugus residents on the Beverly team, which also includes players from Beverly) was at the net to tip the puck past the goalie for a 2-0 Panthers lead.English (2-5) allowed another tip-in score just 23 seconds later, when forward Brittany Russo got the rebound of teammate Clare Leathersich’s shot. Yet English held off the Panthers for the rest of the period without any further damage.”We gave up a couple of fluky goals in that (first) period,” said English co-coach Ric Aylwin. “It’s tough to come back from a (three-goal) deficit against a very good team like Beverly, but we stressed to the girls (in between periods) to just take it one shift at a time.”That premise started to work in the early moments of the second stanza, as English rained several opportunities upon the Panther net. Both winger Vanessa Caruccio and defenseman Madison Molea had solid point-blank shots early on, but each was turned aside by goalie Brianna Jackson.Yet all of English’s hard work paid off near the five-minute mark. The team stormed the Panther end, and Caruccio, standing in back of the net, hit teammate Ashley Fiandaca in front. Fiandaca one-timed the shot past Jackson to put English on the board.”The two of them (Caruccio and Fiandaca) are the heart and soul of our club,” said Aylwin about the duo from Winthrop (English, as a combined squad, has players from Winthrop and Revere in addition to Lynn). “They really give us so much energy.”Witunsky held the Panthers (6-4) at bay, stopping several chances. Konaxis fired a 15-foot wrist shot soon after English scored, but the goalie made a great glove save. Minutes later, she halted a 3-on-1, thwarting Konaxis once again to keep the margin at two.As a result of that momentum, English closed the gap to 3-2 with just over four minutes remaining in the period, when Caruccio beat Jackson from the short side.Yet as quickly as Lynn got that momentum, it was taken away just over two minutes later. McTague registered another goal off a rebound to increase the lead back to two.”It’s always tough to play catch-up against Beverly,” said Aylwin. “They’re a real strong team in every sense, and they cut down our passing lanes as well. And they just don’t stop with their intensity.”Konaxis put the game out of reach in the third with a pair of unassisted goals less than two minutes apart that sealed the win.