PHOTO BY BOB ROCHE
St. Mary’s captain Sarah Ryan, rights, skates the puck out of her end chased by Matignon’s Carolyn Mahoney.
By GORDON VINCENT
LYNN — It’s rare to see a team with six skaters against a team with only three.
It’s rarer still when the shorthanded team is able to survive.
Behind a hat trick from Sarah Ryan, the St. Mary’s girls hockey team defeated Matignon, 4-3, in a matinee on Saturday at Connery Rink. The game ended with two St. Mary’s players in the penalty box. Matignon also pulled its goaltender for the final 50 seconds, looking for the tying goal that never came.
“It’s not often you see 6-on-3,” St. Mary’s coach Frank Pagliuca said, “We don’t usually take a lot of penalties, but we did some undisciplined things, especially at the end of the game.”
Adara Nazarian also had a goal and an assist for the Spartans (6-2), while Codi Butt, Mady Hentosh, Marina DiBiasio and Kate Gray had one assist each.
For Matignon (8-2), Carolyn Mahoney scored twice, while Courtney Hardy had a goal and an assist. Sophomore Ciara Wall, who amassed her 100th career point earlier this year, had a pair of assists. All three of Matignon’s goals came on the power play.
“You usually don’t win a lot of games when you give up three power play goals,” Pagliuca said.
Nazarian scored the only goal of the first period, nine seconds into a power play. Hentosh’s shot from the point was tipped by Butt on the way through to Matignon goalie Dana Smullen, who made the initial save, but Nazarian stuffed the rebound into the net.
The Spartans doubled their lead 3:50 in the second period. Gray fed the puck from behind the net to Ryan, whose backhander from the slot found its way past Smullen.
Matignon tied the game with a pair of goals 2:14 apart later in the second period. Hardy’s shot from the point made its way through a screen in front of St. Mary’s goalie Emily Stephenson, who never saw the puck go over her shoulder. Mahoney got her first goal after a shot by Hardy hit Stephenson’s mask and trickled down into the crease. Mahoney slammed the puck into the net just inside the left post.
Ryan scored her second goal with just four seconds left in the second period, when her shot from between the faceoff circles found the net off Smullen’s glove.
“That was a huge goal,” Pagliuca said. “Sarah had been playing very well for us. She’s become one of our top scorers and she’s proven to be a very good leader.”
Ryan capped off her hat trick with a power play goal 1:52 into the third period. Again, she went high, snapping a shot from the point over Smullen’s glove to give the Spartans a 4-2 lead.
Mahoney cut Matignon’s deficit to one goal with her second goal of the game at 5:13 of the third period. From behind the net, Wall flipped a pass out front to Mahoney, who tucked a wrist shot inside the left post.
St. Mary’s had to kill off four penalties in the final seven minutes of the game. Hardy had three shots on net for the Warriors including a bomb from the point in the final minute that Stephenson turned aside with her left pad to preserve the win for St. Mary’s.
The Spartans play Central Catholic on Monday (2) at Connery Rink.
