Spartan girls hockey team opens season with win over Braintree

LYNN – The two-time defending Division 1 girls hockey champions put another banner up in Connery Rink on Thursday and then went about picking up a 52nd consecutive victory.Led by a hat trick from senior Courtney Winters and a shutout in goal from freshman Sarah Foss in her first career start, St. Mary’s rolled to a 5-0 win over Braintree.Click here for a photo gallery.”There were definitely some first-game jitters,” St. Mary’s coach Frank Pagliuca said. “The first couple of periods were sloppy and that’s a credit to Braintree.”The Spartans played through their jitters nicely as the defense held the Wamps to just nine shots on goal and converted on a handful of their quality scoring chances.”The offense got better as the game went along and the defense made a few mistakes, but in our zone, they moved the puck well,” Pagliuca said.Both teams got off to a slow start, as the first-game rust was evident. Braintree got the game’s first power play opportunity when Meaghan Spurling was called for checking at 4:14, but the Spartans killed that easily.Midway through the first, Braintree netminder Rachael Brazil came up with a huge save on Erin McAndrews’ breakaway chance to keep it scoreless. Late in the period, though, the Spartans found the mark as Winters took a pass from Bridget Donovan and fired a shot that tipped off Brazil’s glove and went in.Early in the second, the Wamps got another power play chance but St. Mary’s killed that one off as well. Two minutes after the man advantage ended, Winters took a Marisa Maccario pass and fired a wrist shot past Brazil to make it 2-0.It stayed 2-0 until the final minute of the second, when Winters went back to work.Picking up a Maccario pass in the right circle, the senior roofed a backhander under the crossbar to complete her hat trick and make it 3-0 after two.”We were able to take advantage of some of the chances we got,” Pagliuca said. “And Courtney certainly had a good game offensively.”The third period would be the best played by the Spartans all night as they put 11 shots on Brazil’s net.After surviving an early Braintree power play, St. Mary’s got a chance to show its man advantage muscle when Kelsey Wrick was called for tripping at 8:14.Pagliuca called time out to get his top power play unit on the ice and the move paid off as Michelle Macchione fired home a shot from the high slot at 8:43 to make it 4-0, Spartans.”That was a big power play goal we got, because the game was still kind of in doubt at that time,” Pagliuca said.Foss, meanwhile, came up with the best save of the game, robbing a Braintree forward on the doorstep with five minutes left. Donovan capped the scoring at 12:49, assisted by Genevieve Benoit and Mikaela Donovan.