Foss, St. Mary’s turn back Hingham

LYNN – Champions find ways to win. Despite being outplayed by Hingham for the majority of Saturday night’s clash between the state’s two top-ranked teams, No. 1 St. Mary’s toppled the Harborwomen, 2-0, at Connery Rink.Click here for a photo gallery.Sophomore goalie Sarah Foss (23 saves) backstopped the victory, recording her third shutout as St. Mary’s (5-0-2) stretched its unbeaten streak to 84 games (82-0-2). Sabrina Iannetti scored the game-winning goal in the second period and Marisa Maccario potted an empty-netter with 50 seconds left as the Spartans prevailed despite being outshot, 23-10.”Sarah played great, especially in the second period. She showed why she’s one of the best in the state,” said St. Mary’s coach Frank Pagliuca. “I’m proud of our kids. This was not our ‘A’ game but the kids responded against a team that’s big, physical and can skate. Hingham really took us off our game but we found a way.””St. Mary’s was the program we emulated when we started our program seven years ago. They are just so disciplined and so well-coached and you have to play your best at all times to beat them. These games always seem to come down to a play or two. Sooner or later we’re going to get the breaks,” said Hingham coach Tom Findley, whose club now stands at 5-2-0. Hingham also bowed to St. Mary’s in last year’s Eastern Mass. semifinals, 4-3.The Harborwomen controlled the territorial play in the first period, building a 7-3 shot advantage, but the period ended scoreless thanks to breakaway stops by each keeper. Foss denied Sarah Schwenzfeier while Hingham’s Beth Findley (8 saves) got her blocker on Bridget Donovan’s bid.Hingham dominated all but a short sequence in the second period but a single defensive zone lapse resulted in St. Mary’s only two shots of the period and a 1-0 lead. Allison Butler controlled a faceoff back to defenseman Angela Dandreo for a quick shot from the right point that Findley handled. Iannetti, left unmarked on the right side, swept in the rebound off her backhand.”Our defensemen didn’t hold their ice and got caught on one side. Beth made the save but when the rebound came down, she had no chance of getting it,” said Tom Findley.Foss preserved the lead with 4:33 left in the period, gobbling up Catherine Linehan’s dead-on shorthanded bid from 15 feet.A curious delay of game call as Dandreo attempted to kill the waning seconds of the second period by freezing the puck left the Spartans with the chore of killing a full Hingham power play to open the third. They did so without yielding a shot and, seemingly energized by that success, played their most complete period of the game.Dandreo angled in from the right side to knock the puck away from Hingham’s Katie Walsh a stride inside the St. Mary’s blue line midway through the period, preventing a dangerous scoring bid. It was just one of the many determined plays by St. Mary’s undermanned defense.”The defense ground it out. We mostly went with three due to some injuries. Angela was superb and Rachel (Donahoe) and Hanna (Quinn) did a great job, as did (forward) Alison (Butler) when she rotated back,” said Pagliuca.Butler nearly sealed it with 3:48 to play, but her 2-on-1 bid from the right of the slot glanced off the outside of the left post. Hingham goalie Findley exited in favor of an extra attacker with a faceoff in the St. Mary’s end with a minute to play but Maccario bagged her empty-netter 10 seconds later.It gets no easier for St. Mary’s, which hits the road Wednesday to take on 2010 New Hampshire State Finalist Bp. Guertin at Skate-3 in Tyngsboro (5:50 p.m.).