LYNN — The St. Mary’s girls hockey team went toe-to-toe with Catholic Central League foe Austin Prep Tuesday afternoon, but in the end a late goal from the Cougars led to a 2-1 loss for St. Mary’s at Connery Rink. Tuesday’s matchup was a battle of top teams in the state, with Austin Prep entering as the No. 1-ranked team and St. Mary’s entering as the No. 3-ranked team.
“It was a great, well-played game by both teams,” said St. Mary’s coach Frank Pagliuca. “It was fast-paced and physical, but it was a clean game. I thought both teams played really well. I was happy with our effort and our compete level, but in the end we just didn’t have enough to get the win.”
Samantha Porazinski scored the lone goal for St. Mary’s, while Kasey Litwin notched one assist.
The game was a back-and-forth battle from the start, with St. Mary’s getting a number of scoring opportunities in the first period. But the Spartans couldn’t crack the Austin Prep defense, and the Cougars were held scoreless on their end as well. At the first intermission, the score remained tied at 0-0.
That deadlock remained until late in the second period, when Austin Prep finally found the back of the net to make it 1-0 going into the final period.
But St. Mary’s kept battling, and just over a minute into the final frame the Spartans tied the score on Porazinski’s goal.
Unfortunately, Austin Prep was able to find the back of the net with just two minutes to play in the game to hand St. Mary’s the loss on its home ice.
“We created a lot of opportunities (Tuesday), but we just couldn’t capitalize on any of them,” said Pagliuca. “When you play a good team like Austin Prep, you have to finish when you get the chance. They were able to do that to us in the third period.”
St. Mary’s (4-2-1) is right back in action Wednesday night (7:30) on the road at Shawsheen Tech.
“I told the girls after the game, the good thing is that we can get right back on the ice and make up for a tough loss like this,” said Pagliuca. “Hopefully we can come out with the same energy and mentality that we had (Tuesday), and this time hopefully we can capitalize on those scoring chances.”
