St. Mary’s girls hockey team forges past Fontbonne

LYNN – For the first time since the end of the 2006-07 season, the St. Mary’s girls hockey squad was in danger of suffering its first loss.Yet, after allowing a goal to Fontbonne in the first few moments of the final period, the Spartans scored the final three score to squelch the Ducks, 5-3, at Connery Rink Saturday.Fontbonne forward Taylor Shepherd moved her squad ahead, 3-2, grabbing the puck and sliding it past goalie for Kelsey Magrane.”We were down, but nobody panicked,” said St. Mary’s coach Frank Pagliuca. “(That goal) could have deflated us, but we were patient, and got a few bounces in front.”Fontbonne goalie Kristen Connors hung tough in the beginning, stopping Spartan forward Michelle Golden seconds into a power play. She came up big with saves on forwards Erin McAndrews (point blank wrist shot) and Sabrina Iannetti (slap coming right off a faceoff) to maintain the one-goal edge.However, McAndrews and Winters worked a 2-on-1 midway through the period. Connors soopped McAndrews’ shot, but the puck slid over to an unguarded Winters, standing to the goalie’s left. She poked the puck into the net, and the game was even at 3.The Spartans continued to blast away at the Ducks’ net, but Connors stopped everything. Iannetti and Winters were robbed on great chances, and Connors kept the game tied.”Connors was oustanding,” said Pagliuca. “She made several point blank saves, and that’s an excellent and well-coached team they have.”Yet St. Mary’s got the break it was looking for with just over a minute left. The Spartans were pounding the Ducks’ end of the pond, with defenseman Rachel Donahoe’s blast from the point finding its way past numerous players and into the Fontbonne net for the eventual game-winner.Fontbonne coach Bob Huxley pulled Connors for an extra skater after the ensuing faceoff. That almost worked, as forward Catherine Flaherty skated in all alone on Magrane with 47 seconds left. Magrane made the pad save, and Iannetti scored an empty netter with seven seconds left.”The effort was definitely there tonight,” said Pagliuca. “Offensively, we were very good, but we have to tighten up defensively.We had trouble in the first two periods getting shots through on their net, but we did a better job of that in the third,” Pagliuca said.The Spartans (3-0) set the tone for the first period when Iannetti outskated two Fontbonne players for a loose puck in the Ducks’ zone. She beat Connors with a short wrist shot for the game’s first score.St. Mary’s pepper Connors with shots in the second period, but she set them all aside. She halted forward Bridget Donovan’s 10-foot wrist shot midway through, then robbed Winters, who was positioned right in front with her attempt.”She really kept us in the game,” Huxley said. “We only have three seniors, and St. Mary’s is an awesome team, so we were truly focused and we worked hard.. It was a good physical, up-and-down game.”As impressive as Connors was, Magrane was just as solid. The Ducks were on the power play late in the period, and Magrane foiled winger Colleen Murphy from the point, with Flaherty positioned right in front.Yet Flaherty evened the score with less than three minutes left in the period. The Ducks (1-1) won a faceoff held to the right of Magrane, and the puck was moved back to Flaherty, who was just a few feet behind the faceoff circle. She beat the goalie with a 20-foot wrist shot to deadlock the score at 1.Winters moved the Spartans into a 2-1 lead midway through the second period, taking a pass from teammate Courtney White, and beating Connors from in front. However, Fontbonne evened the score at 2 less than a minute later, as forward Erin McLoughlin got a feed from teammate Elizabeth Coleman, who was standing to the right of Magrane. An uncovered McLoughlin knocked the puck into the empty left side of the net for the tying score.