St. Mary’s girls hockey survives scare

LYNN – There weren’t a lot of seats to be had on Saturday night at Connery Rink as the state’s top two girls hockey teams locked horns in a rematch of last season’s Division 1 state final.The crowd that packed the old barn on Shepard Street wasn’t disappointed as St. Mary’s and Woburn went toe-to-toe for 45 minutes, finishing in a 1-1 tie thanks to Spartan senior Sabrina Iannetti’s power play goal with 3:08 left in the game.”Woburn is a great team and are well coached,” St. Mary’s coach Frank Pagliuca said. “I’m proud of our kids for coming back like they did.”It looked for all the world like the Tanners, victims of the Spartans in the last two state finals, were going to be the Stanford of girls high school hockey and stop St. Mary’s unbeaten streak at 89 games as they led 1-0 in the third and were getting a brilliant goaltending performance from Courtney Davis.The freshman was going toe to toe with St. Mary’s goalie Sarah Foss (17 saves) in a mano-a-mano duel that kept the crowd holding its breath most of the way. But with 5:13 to go, Tanner superstar Colleen Martell was called for tripping, giving St. Mary’s only its second power play of the game.Davis held the fort for most of the 1:30 but as time ticked down, Alison Butler picked up a loose puck in the right wing corner and fed it out to Iannetti in the high slot. The senior uncorked a slap shot that Davis got a piece of but couldn’t keep out of the net.”We knew that one goal wasn’t going to win this game,” Woburn coach Bob MacCurtain said. “Cause they are such a good team and we told that to the girls going out for the third period. If you make a mistake, they make you pay for it.”Iannetti’s goal was a cap to a game that was entertaining most of the way, worthy of No. 1 vs. No. 2.Both teams came out charging in the first period, but neither could dent the scoreboard until the waning seconds when Foss couldn’t corral Emily Lissner’s shot and freshman Ashley Moran scored on the rebound with 16 ticks left for a 1-0 Woburn lead.The Tanners (10-1-1) nearly made it a 2-0 lead early in the second when Foss made a skate blade save on Siobhan Duran’s 2-on-1 bid. At the other end of the rink, Davis was just as good in stopping all 13 shots she saw in the first two periods.The Spartans (10-0-3) had a chance to tie the game themselves early in the third but Bridget Donovan fanned on a chance at the top of the crease with Davis out of position.”Both goaltenders played really well and in a game like that, that’s what you’re going to see,” Pagliuca said. “They did a really good job of keeping us to the perimeter but we didn’t panic and kept our composure and finally got pucks to the net.”