LYNN — Last week, the St. Mary’s girls hockey team suffered its first loss of the season with a defeat at the hands of Woburn. When the Spartans hosted Weymouth at Connery Rink Wednesday afternoon, shaking off that loss with a bounce-back victory was the main goal in mind.
St. Mary’s did exactly that, making quick work of Weymouth in an 8-0 win over the Wildcats. With the victory, the Spartans improved to 4-1 this season.
“After coming off a tough loss, it was nice to see us respond with a real strong first period,” St. Mary’s coach Frank Pagliuca said. “I thought the puck movement was really good. We used our speed and forced them to try and step up on us. We were able to create space that way and we had great shot selection.”
The underclassmen led the way for the Spartans as sophomore Zoe Solomons and freshman Makayla McGrath propelled St. Mary’s with two goals each. Junior Madison Hentosh, sophomore Kelsey Sullivan and eighth-graders Haley Jackson and Aylah Cioffi each scored one goal.
The Spartans did the bulk of their work in the first period, placing the Wildcats on their heels from the early going. Three minutes into the game, Hentosh cashed in on a power-play opportunity for the first goal of the afternoon. Solomons followed suit with a pair of goals. Jackson found the back of the net to keep the attack alive and Cioffi capped the period with a short handed goal. Add it all up and the Spartans led 5-0 after the first period of play.
“We finished our chances and that’s one thing we’ve been stressing,” Pagliuca said. “We’ve been doing OK with that but on Saturday (against Woburn) we had some chances we didn’t finish. It was nice to see us respond in a positive way and finish those chances.”
If the game wasn’t already out of reach, the Spartans solidified their chances in the second period. St. Mary’s added two more goals to boost its lead to 7-0. McGrath fired a shot into the back of the net with 4:30 to play in the period. Less than a minute later, Sullivan joined in on the fun with a goal of her own. Weymouth trailed 7-0 through two of St. Mary’s best periods of play this season.
“I thought, collectively as a group, the first two periods were two of the better periods we’ve played all year just from puck movement, picking our heads up and making the right decisions with the puck,” Pagliuca said. “It was nice to see.”
McGrath scored her second goal of the afternoon in the third period to cap the scoring and ice the 8-0 St. Mary’s win.
“We had a lot of different goal scorers which is nice to see,” Pagliuca said. “Makayla, who hasn’t played much, was able to score two goals which is great. She’s come a long way in improving. It was nice to see Zoe finish her chances as well.”
The goalie duo of junior Lauren Vaccaro and freshman Maddy Delano combined for the shutout win in net. Weymouth didn’t generate many scoring chances but Vaccaro and Delano teamed up to deny all shots sent in their direction.
“I thought we had a solid game defensively as well,” Pagliuca said. “They had a couple chances but I thought Lauren and Maddy made some nice saves for us and we need that. When we do break down, they pick us up and make nice saves. It was a good team win.”
Through five games, Pagliuca feels his team has has become smarter. The Spartans will also look to make improvements as the season progresses.
“We’ve improved in our hockey IQ, where we need to be situationally,” Pagliuca said. “We’re improving on our forecheck and our special teams have been good. We’ve scored a short-handed goal in every game this year and that’s unique. I think we have to improve in our defensive zone and in the neutral zone.”
St. Mary’s is back on the ice on Saturday evening (6:10) when the Spartans host Matignon.
“Through five games, I’m happy,” Pagliuca said. “We have a tough game on Saturday, getting back to CCL play. That’ll be a tough test for us.”
