St. Mary's of Lynn Beats Lexington Girls Hockey, 4-1

The girls’ hockey team joined a rather long list of teams when it lost 4-1 to the Spartans of St. Mary’s Junior Senior High School of Lynn on Saturday night. St. Mary’s is now unbeaten in its past 94 games.

“I got to give all our girls credit in the world,” said LHS coach Amanda Ciarletta. “We didn’t give up, we kept pushing and if (St. Mary’s) scored we went back and got out there again and did it.”

The Minutemen (12-2-2) found themselves down 4-0 with eight minutes left in the game.

St. Mary’s held early control, dominating the first scoreless period with numerous breakaways, taking early shots on both Lexington goalies, senior Christina DiGiovanni and freshman Amanda Charlton, who were frequently rotated – a strategy Ciarletta had never done before.

She said she borrowed the idea from Wentworth College’s men’s team.

“The reason why we did that was, a few years ago, back in 2001, Wentworth College played Middlebury College in men’s hockey,” Ciarletta said. “And Middlebury’s a known hockey regime, they have tons of national championships, and Wentworth isn’t as strong, and they did that (frequently rotated goalies) and they ended up tying them.

“So we were like, you know what? Everybody has skated up and down with St. Mary’s and they’ve beat them. Everybody’s tried to trap against them and they’ve beat them. No one has tried to do something like that. So we were like, you know, what do we have to lose? It’s not a league game and if we can do it that way, we’ll try it.

“Both the goalies were – even the whole team was completely behind it. We were like, if everybody’s tried everything else, let’s try this and give it a whirl and see what happens.”

St. Mary’s captain Sabrina Iannetti put the Spartans on the board first, scoring the game’s first goal at 7:02 in the second period with an assist from captain Angela Dandreo.

The Spartans pushed their lead to 2-0 nearly three minutes later when Dandreo, just left of the net, flicked the puck for a score. Captain Bridget Donovan and Alison Butler each recorded the assists.

About 10 minutes into the third period, the Spartans scored again on DiGiovanni. Iannetti added her second, the team’s third, off an assist from Gabrielle Crugnale.  

At the eight-minute marker, Gina Beth Manganiello scored the team’s fourth and final goal unassisted. She slapped a bouncing shot in the far right of the net.

Lexington was continuing to race up and down the ice, trying their best to capture the puck and keep it until a scoring opportunity arose.

That time came with 1:46 remaining. Sophomore Sara Lehman put Lexington on the board with assists from junior Nicole Maher and sophomore Jackie Denning.

But the clock ultimately ran out and St. Mary’s earned the win.

“They’re a great club,” Ciarletta said. “State champs three years in a row. They’re winning and they play like that all the time.”

With the loss of the game also came a loss during the game for Lexington.

At 7:24 in the second period, junior Colleen Mullen slammed into the boards playing for the puck against a St. Mary’s player. She went down hard and stayed on the ice for a few minutes until she was helped up and off the ice by a trainer and Ciarletta.

“She’s doing better,” Ciarletta said after the game. “Right now we’re not really sure what the diagnosis is, but she went home and she’s just going to be monitored and we’re going to go from there and see. She didn’t break anything so we’re just waiting to hear on where she’s making her progress.”

Despite the loss on the ice, Ciarletta said she was proud of her team’s determination in facing such a difficult opponent.

“I think we came out on fire and we were ready to play them,” Ciarletta said. “And I honestly think when (Mullen) got hurt it just kind of took the wind out of our sail, you know? If we were skating with them strong and, I believe it was still 0-0 at that point, and we were hanging in there with them and I think it just took the girls to heart.

“I had confidence in my team, my kids to get it done. I would say it was a lot closer game than what the score indicated. I thought our girls played their hearts out.”

Next up, Lexington plays at Belmont High School on Wednesday at 5 p.m.

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