WATERTOWN — It just wasn’t their night.
That’s how No. 9 Peabody/Lynnfield girls hockey coach Michelle Roach summed up the team’s 3-0 loss to No. 8 Boston Latin in the quarterfinals of the Division 1 tournament at John A. Ryan Rink on Saturday.
“We started off slow and had trouble winning one-on-one battles,” Roach said. “We just didn’t execute the way we needed to. We needed to get more pucks on net and we didn’t challenge enough. I think that what marks this team is we didn’t give up, we didn’t pack it in. We trailed the entire game, but we kept going out every shift trying to respond and get back. I’m happy with the way they battled.”
Latin jumped out to a 1-0 lead just 3:28 into the first period, a period that had the Tanners pinned in their own end for the most part. While Peabody stepped up its effort over the next two periods in terms of possession, the Wolfpack’s stifling defense limited the Tanners to its second-lowest shot total of the season (18).
Peabody let a golden opportunity go by the boards in the final four minutes of the first period when it had an extended man-up advantage, along with 66 seconds of a 5-on-3 edge, but couldn’t find the back of the net.
“Boston Latin did a good job packing it in,” said Roach. “They blocked a lot of shots and they were first to the loose pucks when those rebounds came out. We could’ve gotten more pucks to the net, the good news was the pucks we did get to net were more quality chances.”
Sophia Temple scored the game-winning goal. Colleen Goonan doubled the lead to 2-0 at the 9:32 mark of the second period. Goonan added an empty-netter in the final minute of the game after Peabody goalie Jeny Collins was pulled for an extra skater.
Peabody’ best chance to get back in the game came with less than a minute left in the second period on a breakaway by NHL co-MVP Sammie Mirasolo. She deked right, then cut to her left only to flip a backhander over the net.
Collins was outstanding in defeat, turning away 24 Wolfpack shots in her final game wearing Tanner blue and white.
“Jeny played tremendously,” Roach said. “She back-boned this team and kept this team in it. We fought the puck quite a bit tonight, but Jeny was the one who kept us in the game. That first goal, we didn’t clear it. We had to do the little things better than the other team and we didn’t do that.”
Roach also said she felt the small dimensions of the rink may have hampered the Tanners’ ability to generate offense.
“We do get a lot of offense coming in from the neutral zone because we are very fast, but this neutral zone is quite a bit smaller,” Roach said. “We tried to do things more quickly, but we weren’t able to execute in such a tight space.”
The loss marked the end of an era for Collins and fellow seniors Carolyn Garofoli and Mirasolo.
“I’m proud of how far we’ve gotten and how far the program has come especially with our three seniors,” Roach said. “It’s been so great to watch them grow over the last four years.”
Peabody finished the season 15-6-1.
