Nine seconds was all it took for the No. 7 girls’ hockey team to be on the trailing end of its game against No. 2 Woburn High School in the quarterfinal round of the MIAA North Division 1 sectional tournament.
The Minutemen weren’t able to push past the Tanners at Stoneham Arena on Tuesday night, and their season ended with a 3-1 loss.
“I’m so proud of them,” said Amanda Ciarletta, LHS's coach. “From where they came from the first day of tryouts to where we are now. They did so well.”
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Lexington finished its season with a 15-3-4 record.
Woburn sophomore Kayla Smith made a quick impression at 14:51 in the first period when she netted the game’s first goal against Minuteman senior captain and goalie Christina DiGiovanni. Smith took the puck – from assists by senior Siobhan Duran and senior captain Colleen Martell – and skated up the right wing, chucking the puck in the back right of the net, starting the game off by putting Woburn in the driver's seat.
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“Ideally that’s not how we would have liked to start out,” Ciarletta said. “But… it just shows a lot about (Lexington’s) character and their determination to keep pushing throughout the rest of the game. They rebounded right back. They don’t get down. They’re workers; they’ll work back for it.
“I (told them) we have three periods to play and it’s just one shot and it was only a one-goal game; 1-0 going into the second,” continued Ciarletta.
The Tanners dominated in the first period, with its offense catapulting down the ice to pepper DiGiovanni with shots, while the defense was hovering over Lexington.
At 10:39, Woburn put in its second goal from close range when senior Alaina Schiano scored with assists from junior Bryana Harron and freshman Ashley Moran.
“(At) 2-0 going into the third … we were close, we were right in there,” said Ciarletta. “I just told them to put it behind them and you have to move forward now, and back to 0-0.”
Smith opened the third and final period just as dangerously for Lexington with a similar move to her opening shot. She raced up the right wing close to the net and passed the puck across in front, but her target teammate wasn’t able to receive the puck.
At 9:34, though, Smith was able to assist – along with Duran – on Martell’s goal, the team’s third, putting Woburn up 3-0. Duran passed to Smith, who was positioned slightly behind the net at the left goal line, who passed from behind to Martell for the score.
But roughly 30 seconds later, Lexington got on the board when sophomore Sara Lehman scored against Woburn freshman goalkeeper Courtney Davis. Senior captain Meghan McNabb recorded the assist.
At 3-1 with just under three minutes left, Lexington was fighting to tie with two more goals to at least stay in the game and force overtime. But Woburn didn’t allow it. The Tanners were racing with the puck, running out the clock, shooting strategically and reaching to interrupt Lexington passes.
A timeout was called with 5.5 seconds remaining. But back on the ice, the shot clock was dwindling and Lexington scrambled for a shot but wasn’t able to score.
“We had chances and chances and chances,” Ciarletta said. “We didn’t capitalize on our opportunities and I think that was just frustrating them a little bit too.”
