Lady Spartans shut down Austin Prep

STONEHAM – St. Mary’s met the challenge of defeating an opponent three times in a season Tuesday night, advancing to the Division 1 girls state tournament semifinals with a 3-0 shutout of Catholic Central League rival Austin Prep at Stoneham Arena.The No. 4 Lady Spartans (17-3-4) once again solved AP senior goalie Shannon O’Neil (15 saves), who ranks among the state’s very best keepers and posted 10 regular-season shutouts.Senior dynamo Alison Butler continued to spearhead the attack in the absence of injured linemate Kaleigh Finigan with two goals and an assist for the second straight game, raising her season totals to 35 goals and 60 points.Junior goalie Lauren Skinnion notched the shutout with 14 saves, none better than her post to post slide and right pad denial of Kathleen McHugh’s wraparound stuff with 2:49 left in the game.”She was awesome,” St. Mary’s coach Frank Pagliuca said of Butler. “She’s really elevated her play and is one of the best players in the state. She anticipates so well and her hockey IQ is off the charts.”Butler and AP’s O’Neil have known each other for years, having played together on a number of teams, most recently the Islanders last fall. Butler, though, was all business on the ice and gave St. Mary’s a 1-0 lead at 2:50 of the first period when she forced a turnover, circled the net and whipped a backhander over O’Neil’s glove.”We knew we had to get one quick and we knew we just had to throw shots on net, even from bad angles,” said Butler, who said it was crucial for the Lady Spartans to get past their two regular-season wins against AP and focus solely on this game.Following Butler’s goal, AP dictated pace and tempo through much of the remainder of the first period with control generated by an aggressive forecheck.”Austin, especially in the first period, outworked us at times and really took over at times. It was the same in the second period – we came out with the quick start and then fell back into reading and reacting,” said Pagliuca.The Lady Spartans doubled their lead on the power play early in the second period. Defenseman Tatiana Doucette’s diagonal two-zone pass found Butler, who bounced a self-pass off the left wall, stepped around an AP defenseman then beat O’Neil low to the glove side from the left circle.Then, at 2:48, Butler carried along the left wing and drew the defense before sending a pass to Madison Molea, who snapped a shot from the mid-slot over O’Neil’s shoulder to make it 3-0.”It was a 2-on-1, I saw the defense coming and I threw the puck across. Madison made a nice play. We’re working well together,” Butler said.St. Mary’s committed to defense in the third period and Skinnion closed out a calm, composed performance that Pagliuca praised as “one of her best of the year.”Next up for St. Mary’s is a date with No. 1 seed Woburn (19-0-3) on Sunday at Chelmsford Forum (tbd). The teams played to a 2-2 tie in mid-December.