FILE PHOTO
St. Mary’s goalie Emily Stephenson made 19 saves in Saturday’s win over Archbishop Williams
By SCOT COOPER
LYNN — For the first 15 minutes Saturday afternoon, Archbishop Williams gave the St. Mary’s girls hockey team all it could handle on the ice.
But the Spartans picked up their play in the final 30 minutes, including a pair of goals from sophomore winger Codi Butt to clinch a 4-1 win.
Spartan coach Frank Pagliuca said he wasn’t surprised that the Bishops, desperate for wins and points as they try to get into the postseason, played right in the face of his team to start the game.
“They’re a good, big, physical team, they came out hard in the first period and really pushed us around, we were back on our heels right away against them,” Pagliuca said. “They used their size up front against us, and made it really difficult for us, we really did a good job (after going up 2-1) in the second and third periods.”
It was the youngsters for the Spartans who got things pointed in the right direction in the second period. Freshman Aylah Cioffi from Revere fed Butt at with 1:37 gone in period two. Butt, a sophomore from Swampscott, put St. Mary’s on the scoreboard when she buried one off a scramble in front of Bishops’ goalie Allison DelMonte.
Bishop’s freshman Chelsea Taxter tied the score at 1-1, just 80 seconds after Butt’s first goal, but that was the last puck that would get by Spartan goalie Emily Stephenson (19 saves).
The home team took the lead for good with all three forwards getting involved in a goal by freshman Zoe Solomons. Co-captain Sarah Ryan got off a shot that kicked around in front of the net. Adara Nazarian poked it at DelMonte, who got a pad on the puck, but could not secure the rebound before Solomons knocked it home with 9:31 remaining in period two.
St. Mary’s kept up an aggressive forecheck in the third, and the hard work paid off with 5:36 to play when Butt scored her second goal of the afternoon. Cioffi and Natalie Mellen picked up assists on the insurance goal.
Williams had its defensemen pinching up, trailing by two, but couldn’t get a puck by Stephenson. The senior goalie from Salem made a great save on the Bishops’ Heath McKenzie, that would have made it a 3-2 game with 2:10 left.
DelMonte came to the bench for a sixth attacker with a minute to play, but Mellen put one in the empty cage from Nazarian to finalize things at 4-1 with six seconds to go.
Williams (5-8-0) coach Mark McHale said his team is in a dogfight to make the playoffs, and it’s difficult to get wins against good teams like St. Mary’s
“We had some chances, it was a 3-1 game when their goalie made a big save, they’re a very good team, this is a tough league, you’ve got to be on top of your game every night,” McHale said. “We’ve had some problems scoring goals, they girls don’t quit, and we know what we have to do with seven games left to make the tournament.”
The Spartans improve to 9-2-0, and have a huge game coming up Wednesday at home against Austin Prep. Pagliuca said the team would need to play three periods against the Cougars like the last two they played Saturday.
“They’re an excellent team coming in, they’re the defending champs, and we can’t have an off period like we did today,” Pagliuca said. “We did a good job in the second and third today, but we need that sense of urgency from start to finish on Wednesday night. It has to be three full periods against Austin Prep.”
