St. Mary’s girls hockey shuts out Fontbonne

LYNN – It was the 45-minute effort that St. Mary’s coach Frank Pagliuca has been waiting for all season long and it couldn’t have come at a better time with the state tournament on the horizon.Facing Division 2 favorite Fontbonne, the Spartans unloaded a 44-shot-on-goal effort as Sabrina Iannetti scored twice and Bridget Donovan added a goal and two assists en route to a 6-0 St. Mary’s win. The Spartans are unbeaten in their last 92 games.Click here for a photo gallery.”That is as good as we’ve played all year,” Pagliuca said. “That’s the first time that we’ve come out and played three quality periods and that’s what you want as you get near the tournament.”The game was delayed by nearly an hour after a water main break on the Lynnway resulted in the Ducks’ equipment arriving before the team at Connery. The 45-minute wait didn’t deter the focused Spartans, who were on the ball from the drop of the puck.”It would have been easy for the girls to get distracted by the delay,” Pagliuca said. “But credit to them, they came right out and played well.”St. Mary’s (12-0-3) swarmed around the Ducks zone for most of the first period but the game was still scoreless until the 9:34 mark when Allison Butler fed a pass to Iannetti, who unloaded a slap shot over goaltender Lan Crofton’s shoulder for a 1-0 lead after one period.The Spartans continued swarming in the second period as Angela Dandreo rang a shot off the left post early. The pressure continued and resulted in Gina Beth Manganiello being hooked on a breakaway, resulting in a penalty shot.Iannetti took the shot and she made it 2-0 with a nifty one-hand tuck past a sliding Crofton.”That was a big goal. If she stops it, they get a lot of momentum there,” Pagliuca said.Just under three minutes later, some sharp play around the net from Manganiello gave the Spartans a commanding 3-0 lead. St. Mary’s wasn’t done yet in the period as Donovan was set up by younger sister Mikaela at 8:26 to up the margin to 4-0 after two.Even more impressive was the fact that the Spartans had effectively put the shackles on a Fontbonne attack led by 29-goal scorer Taylor Shepherd. Over the first two periods, the Ducks could manage a grand total of only eight shots against Sarah Foss.”Our defense did a great job of stepping up in the neutral zone,” Pagliuca said. “We did a nice job of keeping them to the perimeter for the most part.”Gabby Crugnale and Butler would add third-period goals as the Spartans polished off their most efficient win of this season.