Girls hockey tournament preview: St. Mary’s seeks three-peat

Fresh off a second consecutive undefeated regular season, the St. Mary’s girls hockey team will now look to join an elite club of three peat state champions beginning on Sunday.The Lady Spartans, who finished 21-0-1 this season, will open up their quest for title No. 3 on Sunday (6) at Connery Rink when they take on either Andover or Marblehead in a first round contest.”There are a lot of good teams on both sides of the bracket,” St. Mary’s coach Frank Pagliuca said. “We’ve had a very good regular season but now everyone’s record is back to 0-0.”St. Mary’s saw its record setting win streak snapped in the second to last game of the regular season when Fontbonne, the favorite to win the Division 2 crown for the second time, scored late in the third to force a 1-1 tie. The Spartans rallied with convincing wins over Acton-Boxboro and Wakefield to close the season.”We’ve been playing good the last couple of games and hopefully that carries over for us,” Pagliuca said.In its 21 games, the Spartans have outscored the opposition 134-16 and have scored less than three goals in just the tie with Fontbonne. Leading the way has been senior Courtney Winters, who joined the 200-point and 100 assist clubs this season.Winters has an area leading 33 goals and 58 points this season and is one of five Spartans who have at least 30 points. At the other end of the ice, freshman Sarah Foss has been outstanding taking over for Kelsey Magrane, posting a 0.61 GAA and nine shutouts in the regular season.The Spartans first round game could have a decisively North Shore flavor if the No. 17 seeded Magicians (10-5-5) could get out of their preliminary round game on Wednesday (7:30) in Andover.Marblehead has been led all year by eighth grader Lexie Laing, whos 20 goals were among the tops in the area. Goaltender Molly Depew has been brilliant as well, finishing with a 1.15 GAA and five shutouts.Another local team on the St. Mary’s side of the bracket is Lynn/Winthrop, one of the Cinderella teams from a year ago.The Bulldogs lost only three times in the regular season and will be the No. 13 seed, opening its tourney on Wednesday (6:10) at Larsen Arena in Winthrop against perennial power Arlington Catholic.”It’s nice to be a higher seed and play against an established program like AC,” Lynn coach Anthony Martucci said. “It will give us a great gauge of where we are as a team.”Lynn is led by high scoring forward Mackenzie Clark. The sophomore is already closing in on 100 points for her career while defenseman Taylor Brown quietly scored 17 goals during the regular season.The Bulldogs also will have Katie Burt in the net once again. Last year, Burt backstopped her team to the quarterfinals where they took state finalist Woburn to a shootout.”If we win, we will certainly be ecstatic but we don’t assume this is going to be a walk in the park either,” Martucci said.The fourth local entry will be No. 10 seed Beverly, champions of the North Cape League. The Panthers, who come in at 13-3-4, will host No. 23 Billerica on Wednesday (6) at Talbot Rink in Gloucester for a preliminary round contest.Led by NCL MVP Brianna Jackson, who had a 1.40 GAA and six shutouts in net, the Panthers are another quiet contender in D1. Clare Leathersich leads the offense with 23 points.