St. Mary’s girls hockey blanked by AC

LYNN – It?s been a long time since the St. Mary?s girls? hockey team has been in a scoring slump like the one the Spartans have experienced so far this season.
Despite making strides forward in the mind of coach Frank Pagliuca Saturday night at Connery Rink, the Spartans fell for the third time in as many games. Arlington Catholic controlled play for most of the game and held St. Mary?s to only five shots on goal in a 3-1 victory.
?We had some better chances this time than we did in the first game (a 3-0 loss) against them,” Pagliuca said. “The thing I?m disappointed in is our lack of discipline. You can?t keep taking penalties against a deep team like Arlington Catholic. That wears you down after a while.”
The Cougars (3-0) didn?t score on any of their five power plays but they used their three lines and four defensemen on a regular basis to gradually run St. Mary?s out of gas.
The Spartans got four power plays of their own, including a 5-on-3 advantage late in the first period, but failed to capitalize as they managed only two shots.
?We are still kind of a work in progress,” Pagliuca said. “But we have to play teams like AC to get better. Once it all comes together, I think we will be a very good team.”
The Spartans? shining light Saturday was the play of Brittany McPherson in net. The sophomore stopped 17 shots and kept her team in the game when AC turned up the offensive pressure in the final two periods.
?Brittany has played great in all three of our games. She?s given us a chance to win,” Pagliuca said.
The Cougars didn?t waste a lot of time in getting the scoring started Saturday. It took just under four minutes before some hard work behind the net by Tia Martignetti and Nicole Amato paid off when Maggie Sullivan fired home a shot from the top of the crease for a 1-0 lead.
Moments later, St. Mary?s had a power play when Jess Piracini was tagged for interference at 5:07 but the Cougars killed the penalty. AC gradually began to take control of the play, finishing the period with a 9-4 shots on goal advantage.
But with just under three minutes left in the first, the Spartans pulled even when Katie Terban beat her defender to the right post and deflected in a Maggie Flaherty pass at 12:15.
St. Mary?s had their 5-on-3 for 1:09 in the final minute of the period when Adrieana Rossini and Michaela MacLaughlin picked up penalties. But the Cougars shut the door and kept it tied 1-1 after one.
Riding the momentum of the huge penalty kill to end the first, the Cougars put on a clinic in the second period. Their defense shut down St. Mary?s at every turn, not allowing the Spartans to put a single shot on Katherine Crane?s goal.
It took just 66 seconds for the tie to be broken in the second as MacLaughlin set up Amato to give AC a 2-1 lead. Just over five minutes later, the Cougars? dangerous first line finally found some room as Piracini fed Jackie Sindoris to give AC a 3-1 lead with 8:38 left in the second.
With the two-goal lead, the Cougars turned to their defense to shut the door.
After holding St. Mary?s shotless in the second period, AC did the same thing for nearly eight minutes in the third period before Samantha Callahan put one on net with 6:28 left to go.It proved to be the only shot the Spartans got on net in the third period despite having a late chance to cut the lead to one on a power play with 5:07 left.