St. Mary’s girls hockey bound for state final

SALEM – As has been its custom throughout this tournament, the St. Mary’s girls hockey team came out of the chute last night in the Division 1 state semifinal game against Arlington playing tentatively and – according to the team’s coach – very badly.So badly, in fact, that – according to star forward and captain Abby Gauthier – “he graded us an ‘F’ for the period.”A scoreless tie at the end of the period wouldn’t have been a good thing. As Gauthier herself pointed out, “We go in tied at 0-0, and whole focus of the game shifts.”Thanks to sophomore Erin McAndrews, that didn’t happen. With only 31 seconds left in the period, McAndrews – who hurt her shoulder so badly in the second-to-the-last regular-season game she had to be helped off the ice – made one of those hustle plays that endear her to everyone who sees her, whether it’s hockey or softball (where she’s a catcher and one of the team’s best hitters). She poked the puck away from a Spy Ponder defender, got after it, skated in directly in front of goalie Kimberly Hayward, and stuck the puck behind her for the first goal of what eventually became a 7-1 rout.The Spartans play Wakefield (3-2 winners in overtime over Woburn) for their second state championship (but first since moving up to Division 1) in four years Tuesday at Harvard’s Bright Hockey Center.”We did not come out strong, to say the least,” said coach Frank Pagliuca. “Erin made a nice play to score that goal, and it was huge. And it got us ready for the second and third period.””It woke us up,” said Gauthier.”And it proved to be all the Spartans needed. They went out in the second period and simply buried Arlington to raise their record to 24-0. In three tournament games, the Spartans have scored 22 goals while allowing only four (and two of those came Saturday, against Boston Latin, after they’d amassed a 7-1 lead). The Gauthier-Christen Hart-Courtney Winters line has racked up 28 points in three games; Winters has scored a hat trick in two of the three games; and Gauthier has 13 points, 11 of them assists.”I give credit to our seniors,” said Pagliuca. “They picked it up. I told them that it was absolutely unacceptable, the way they played in the first period. No excuse for it. I told the seniors this might be the last game they ever played.”They got the message.Hart made sure of it just 1:16 into the second period, on the power play, when she and Gauthier combined for the goal that made it 2-0 – Hart ramming home the puck from up close. A little over a minute later (at 2:22), it was 3-0, courtesy of Winters, who came around from behind the net and ticked the puck between Hayward and the goalpost.A little over a minute later (3:37), it was 4-0 and the rout was on. Hart scored her second of the evening, again set up by Gauthier, who left the puck out front for her to knock home.Sabrina Iannetti (11:42) and Caitlin Gottwald closed out the scoring in the second period, which meant the third period was strictly for show. Pagliuca used the opportunity to let some of his younger girls play.Victoria Messuri got Arlington on the board at 3:51 of the third period, but Winters made sure the Spy Ponders would entertain no thoughts of a miraculous comeback when she answered that (with an assist from Gauthier) at 4:46 while the Spartans were shorthanded.”I’m proud of these girls,” said Pagliuca, who leads the team into the state final after being frustrated in his first two seasons by losing in the semis – including last year’s shootout loss to Austin Prep. “They’ve played great all year, and they deserve to be in the state final.”