LOWELL — To say it was intense at the Tsongas Center Sunday morning would be a pad-sized understatement. That said, when the clock hit its zeros, the St. Mary’s girls hockey team was championship-bound for the first time since 2013.
St. Mary’s head coach Frank Pagliuca couldn’t have been more proud after his team’s 6-3 win against Billerica-Chelmsford in the Division 3 semifinals, and looks forward to Sunday’s matchup against Shrewsbury at the TD Garden in Boston.
“I’m just really proud of my kids. [It’s] so tough to get here,” Pagliuca said. “To give them an opportunity to cap their high school careers in the Garden – I don’t think you can write it any better than that.”
The crowd was a little bigger, and the brights a little brighter – none of that mattered to St. Mary’s Maggie Pierce. The forward registered two goals and four assists, one of them a nifty forehand-backhand tuck in the third period that served as the game-winner.
“It’s something that I’ll always remember,” Pierce said. “[It’s] kind of mind-blowing, honestly.”
Oh, and St. Mary’s Jenna Chaplain (2 goals) wasn’t bad, either.
“Our best players stepped up,” Pagliuca said. “That’s what we needed; we needed that boost offensively and we got it.”
Using Pierce’s verbiage, the bottom two periods were in fact mind-blowing. After a 0-0 first period, one with “a lot of nerves” according to Pagliuca, the second and third periods featured all nine goals.
“A wild game… it was a lot,” Pagliuca said. “We’re not used to that many goals being scored in a game. That was the first time all year we’ve let in three goals.”
Through them all, however, St. Mary’s never trailed. And after a three-goal barrage in just over a minute in the third, the Spartans were in position to cap it off.
“The third period was crazy,” Pagliuca said.
“We never hung our heads or anything after they [Indians] scored,” Pierce said. “I had confidence in my teammates.”
Through the back-and-forth action, Amanda Forziati and Tia Picardi also scored for St. Mary’s, and it was Pierce’s empty-netter (6-3) that sealed the deal.
From there, each and every Spartan embraced goalie Ang Catino as the final buzzer sounded – a sight the traveling St. Mary’s faithful roared for.
The skill and speed between No. 1 St. Mary’s and No. 13 BC were present at times, but up until the very end, goalie Hailey Graybeal bailed the Indians out to keep them competitive.
“They just played us physical, and their goalie played outstanding,” Pagliuca said. “We knew we were going to get a tough game… they deserved to be here.”
You would think Pierce speaks for the rest of her team when she says she’s “super excited” for the iconic Garden ice. The Spartans were last there in 2013 when they defeated Arlington Catholic, and Pagliuca is ready for another memorable day.
“It’s anybody’s game on Sunday,” Pagliuca said.
