FILE PHOTO
Zoe Solomons led the Spartans in Monday night’s win.
By MIKE ALONGI
LYNN — Behind two goals from freshman forward Zoe Solomons, the St. Mary’s Spartans took down the Lynn/Winthrop/Saugus Bulldogs, 2-1, in a non-conference rivalry game at Connery Rink on Monday night.
“I thought we sleepwalked through most of the game, to be honest,” said St. Mary’s coach Frank Pagliuca. “I think Winthrop/Lynn/Saugus outworked us today. But, we’ve talked about having games like this where other people need to step up, and tonight it was Zoe’s night to step up.”
This adds to an already productive year for the Saugus native, as she is now tied for third on the team in total points with 14.
“She had a couple great shots tonight and that was what we needed,” said Pagliuca. “I’m glad she was able to have a good game, because if she hadn’t we’d probably be looking at a loss tonight.”
St. Mary’s goalie Emily Stephenson had 15 saves in the win and had a shutout going through 43 minutes of the game.
“I thought she played really well again, as always,” Pagliuca said. “She had a couple big saves out there for us, and stuff like that really helps when our offense isn’t exactly clicking.”
On the other end, Bulldogs goalie Gretchen Howard had an impressive performance with 33 saves in the loss.
“Gretchen has been great ever since she got here, and tonight was no different,” said Bulldogs coach Anthony Martucci. “She saw 35 shots tonight and sent almost everything away. Not many goalies can stop that many shots in a game like that.”
The Spartans came out as the aggressors, pumping 14 shots on net in the first period compared to just two shots for the Bulldogs. Howard was more than up to the task, stopping everything that came her way.
The second period, however, was a different story. Just 19 seconds into the period, Solomons buried her first goal off a rebound to put the Spartans on the board. The goal seemed to give the Bulldogs a bit of a spark, as they instantly became more aggressive in the offensive zone. They were able to get several good scoring chances against Stephenson, but the senior netminder stood tall and didn’t let anything past her.
With about seven minutes left in the period and the Spartans dominating the offensive zone, Solomons stole the puck on a clearing attempt and broke for the net. Once she found some daylight in the right circle to let off a shot, she buried a wrister over Howard’s shoulder to pad the lead at 2-0.
The third period was the best one of the night for the Bulldogs, drawing several penalties and getting eight shots on net. Stephenson sent everything away for the first 13 minutes of the period, but eventually the Bulldogs relentlessness paid dividends.
With about two minutes left and L/W/S working hard in the offensive zone, junior forward McKayla Norris grabbed the puck and found the back of the net to cut the deficit in half. The Bulldogs grabbed the momentum and tried to tie it up with the little time they had left, but Stephenson and the Spartans took the win.
Martucci said that while he was pleased with the way his team ended the game, the Spartans need to clean up on some areas.
“We’ve got to clean a lot of stuff up,” Martucci said. “We need to be better passing, defending and getting opportunities. We’ll go into practice this week and get to work.”
For the Spartans, the goal is to keep the effort and energy up for the entire 45 minutes.
“We’ve just got to be mentally ready to go from the start of games,” said Pagliuca. “We need to compete harder, because I think we got outworked.
St. Mary’s will take on Archbishop Williams in a Catholic Central League matchup on Wednesday afternoon at Zapustas Arena in Randolph. The Bulldogs will travel to LoConte Rink in Medford to take on Malden/Medford on Saturday afternoon.
