Mount St. Charles Girls Win RIIL Championship

Bay View responded to a Game One loss with a spirited first-period effort in Game Two, but the Mounties potted five second-period goals en route to 7-1 victory and a second consecutive postseason championship.

Six different players found the back of the net for MSC Thursday, and four scored at least two points. Freshman forward Briana Castro scored a pair of goals and added two assists, playing alongside junior Cassandra Czarn and captain BriAnna Narodowy.

“The thing about our team is that we’re very, very well balanced. We had a lot of goal scorers all year long,” said Stephen Shea, head coach of the Mounties.

Bay View’s senior goaltender, Annie Procaccini, made 33 saves, but she and the Bengals could not stifle the trio of Castro, Czarn and Narodowy who hooked up for the game-winning goal at 7:26 of the second period.

The talented threesome generated a few of MSC’s best offensive opportunities during the first period, and they quickly moved the puck up ice again after Lauren Levesque provided MSC with its first goal at 7:16 of the second period.

Czarn doubled the Mounties’ advantage, with assists from Castro and Narodowy, and MSC proceeded to score three more goals prior to intermission.

“Once they scored, for whatever reason, we let down,” said Karen Emma, head coach of the Bengals.­ “Once we did that, unfortunately, the floodgates were opened.”

Narodowy lent a hand to Meredith Peppes at 9:29 and Castro at 10:55 to give MSC a 4-0 lead. The senior notched three assists Thursday and added two helpers Wednesday, garnering recognition as MSC’s Most Valuable Player after the victory.

“As a senior captain, you want to win [the championship], and you want to leave on a high note,” Narodowy said. “It’s always been a dream of mine to win it my senior year, so it was awesome to finally make the dream a reality.”

Caitlin Shea scored at 11:08 to put the Bengals in a five-goal hole prior to intermission. Brianna Feld got Bay View on the board at 11:40 of the second period, but Samantha Smith and Castro responded with third-period goals to clinch the win for MSC.

“We had our opportunities to change the course of this game and we didn’t get it done,” Emma said. “[We’ve] got to score goals to win games and we weren’t able to do that again.”

The Bengals out-shot the Mounties, 8-6, during the first period Thursday, but they struggled to push the puck past MSC’s Sarah Erban. The freshman net-minder turned aside 15 shots Thursday and 20 Wednesday to help MSC secure its sixth overall crown.

“This series, we came of age as a defensive team,” Shea said. “Bay View forced us to play real hard defensively, so even though we got seven goals tonight, I think we won it with our defense.”

The Mounties , scoring once during the first period and again during the third to extend their postseason win streak to five games overall.

In 2010, MSC climbed out of a one-game hole to defeat Bay View and win a fifth championship, and this year to secure another meeting with the Bengals at Schneider Arena.  

MSC’s sixth consecutive playoff win comes with its second championship in 2011; the Mounties also captured the regular season divisional title with a 15-1-0-0 record in league play.

Bay View finished second to MSC with 26 points (13-3-0-0), and moved past third-seeded Burrillville/Ponaganset—with the help of senior goaltender Meghan Colucci—to earn its seventh consecutive trip to Providence College.

“They never gave up,” Emma said. “They were determined to be in first or second place. They were determined to get to the playoffs, and then we did what we had to do.”

The Bengals have won three postseason championships, including back-to-back titles in 2008 and 2009. MSC is still the only team to take a playoff series from the Bengals.

Both teams have existed as Interscholastic League members since 2002.