LYNN — With a host of young but experienced talent returning to the ice this year, the St. Mary’s girls hockey team will likely be a force to be reckoned with in the 2017-2018 season.
Last year, with a team that only had five seniors, the Spartans rolled to a 13-4-3 regular season record and earned a No. 8 seed in the Division 1 North tournament before losing to Needham in the quarterfinal round. A big chunk of the winning contributions came from underclassmen in 2016-2017, meaning this year’s team has both the talent and the experience to make another tournament run.
That doesn’t mean that the Spartans didn’t suffer some big losses to graduation. All five of the seniors on last year’s team were huge contributors, including the team’s top two scorers in captains Sarah Ryan and Adara Nazarian (29 points each). Add to that losing another captain in Ashley Wodjewodzic (12 points) and another solid contributor in Brittany McPherson (12 points), and that’s a lot for any team to overcome.
“Those girls were a big part of the team and they played a lot of big minutes for us last year,” said St. Mary’s coach Frank Pagliuca, now in his 12th year at the helm. “Obviously it’s tough losing them and they’ll be missed, but we feel like we have a great group of girls who are ready to take the next step as well.”
But perhaps the biggest loss for the Spartans is that of goalie Emily Stephenson, who had been a stalwart in net for St. Mary’s for the past three seasons. In her final season, she posted a .912 save percentage with an impressive six shutouts, including one in the opening round of the Division 1 North tournament.
“She was such a huge part of the team that it will be nearly impossible to replace her,” said Pagliuca.
But, the Spartans do have to replace her. That task will likely fall on one of two transfer students who are coming into the program this year: Lauren Vaccaro, a junior from Lynnfield, and Maddy Delano, a freshman from Beverly.
On the offensive side of things, St. Mary’s still has loads of talent returning. Junior Codi Butt and eighth grader Ayla Cioffi are both back after registering 28 points apiece last year, while junior Mady Hentosh will look to build on her 22-point season. Senior Natalie Mellen (18 points), sophomore Zoe Solomons (16 points) and freshman Marina DiBiasio (15 points) are also returning to the team this year. Hentosh and senior Alex Iacoviello have been named captains for this year’s team.
“We have a lot of firepower coming back on offense for sure, but we also balance that out with a lot of solid defensive players returning as well,” said Pagliuca. “I think this year, our depth and talent are really going to help us out a lot.”
As far as the schedule is concerned, it’s another tough slate for St. Mary’s. In addition to conference matchups against teams like Archbishop Williams, Austin Prep and Matignon, the Spartans have scheduled non-conference games against contenders like Woburn (last year’s Division 1 state champions), Arlington and Braintree.
“Because our league is so small, it gives us a lot of flexibility to schedule tough non-conference games,” Pagliuca said. “We’ve done that again this year and I think it will be a great challenge to our team.”
The Spartans will get things going with a scrimmage against Stoneham this afternoon before traveling to Methuen for a scrimmage against Tewksbury/Methuen on December 9. That’s the only game action they’ll see before opening up the season on December 16 on the road against Arlington Catholic at Ed Burns Arena in Arlington.
