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10 WEEKLYNEWS.NET - 978-532-5880 MARCH 7, 2019 Sports Tanners making hockey history By Daniel Kane and Mike Alongi The No. 11 PeabodyLynnfield/North Reading girls hockey team kept its record-breaking season alive, shocking No. 6 St. Mary’s, 4-0 in the first round of the Division 1 tournament Monday at John A. Ryan Arena in Watertown. “We feel amazing right now,” Tanners coach Michelle Roach said. “We have worked so hard all season. The kids really put it out there, they gave it everything they. We told them, ‘don’t leave anything on the ice. St. Mary’s is a great team.’ And I think we showcased that tonight. A lot of people underestimate us so we were looking to send a message. I think we did that.” Abigail Buckley was amazing in net for the Tanners with 38 saves. Peabody captains Sammie Mirasolo and Jessica Robert each scored twice. “Abby played out of her mind,” Roach said. “She’s really the backbone of our team. She sets the tone from the back of the net. All those saves that she makes give us momentum to push forward. “I think it started last week against Winthrop,” Roach added of Buckley. “She played unbelievable last week. We had a few days of very tight, focused practices and they have been on their A-game. She knows she has to get up and be a leader. She always rises to the occasion.” While the two teams had played each other just three times going into the game, all won by St. Mary’s, the behind-the-scenes-connections between the two have the makings of a long-time rivalry. Two of the top four Spartans snipers, Mady Hentosh, a senior captain, and eighth-grader Jenna Chaplain live in Peabody, while both starting goalies — Buckley and St. Mary’s counterpart Lauren Vaccaro -- have enjoyed all-star caliber careers and live in Lynnfield. Vaccaro and Buckley played together on the Peabody/Lynnfield team as freshmen during Roach’s rookie season in 2015-2016 when the Tanners won just six games. On the coaching side, Roach was one of a handful of pioneering female players who helped establish the St. Mary’s varsity program back in 2003. She also played two years on the boys team before St. Mary’s established a girls club team in 2001. In 2009-2011, Roach was back at her alma mater as an assistant coach under Spartans’ coach Frank Pagliuca. During her tenure the Spartans won three state titles and built a 100- game unbeaten streak. Roach’s assistant coaches, Amanda Donahue and Roach’s brother, Stephen Roach, are also St. Mary’s graduates. Donohue played three years of varsity hockey under Pagliuca, winning a state championship in 2013. Prior to the game, Donohue said she was sure Pagliuca would have something up his sleeve. She was wrong. The Spartans had flashes of offense in the second period, but overall Pagliuca was disappointed with St. Mary’s effort. “I just think from the drop of the puck we got outplayed the entire game,” Pagliuca said. “Credit to Peabody. They wanted it more, they beat us to loose pucks and we were just out of sync all night. Unfortunately it was our worst performance at the worst time, but most of that was Peabody just outworking us.” The Tanners got off to the better start in the first period while dominating possession time but couldn’t capitalize. The Spartans kept Peabody on the perimeter, with several blocked shots and nine first-period saves from Vaccaro keeping the Tanners scoreless. With one minute remaining in the period St. Mary’s got some offense going with a man advantage. The Spartans got what they were looking for on the power play with a nice shooting chance for Chaplain in the slot but Buckley made the save to keep the game tied at 0-0. “I thought we controlled most of the first,” Roach said. “So we were a little disappointed going into the locker room without having put something in the back of the net. We knew we just had to keep working and eventually something was going to go.” Midway through the second, St. Mary’s got on the power play again and were all over the Tanners. But Buckley rose to the occasion with a flurry of fantastic saves to keep the Sammie Mirasolo scored twice in the Tanners’ win over Winthrop. game scoreless. With three minutes remaining in the second, Robert skated the puck out of her own zone and kept going, slipping by a Spartan defender and ripping a wrist shot that found the back of the net to put Peabody ahead 1-0. Robert wasn’t done there. The senior captain made another nice play with less than minute to go on the penalty kill, stealing the puck and going on a breakaway that she finished to extend the lead to 2-0. Mirasolo came up big in the third period. Midway through the third, she carried the puck into the St. Mary’s zone on a three-on-one rush and ripped a high shot that found the back of the net. Just over three minutes later, Mirasolo scored again, using her speed to breakaway from a Spartan defender and ripping another shot to put Peabody up 4-0 and ice the game. The Tanners will take on No. 3 Methuen in the quarterfinals Thursday, March 7 (5:30) at O’Brien Arena in Woburn. The Tanners earned the right to play the five-time state champion Spartans with a 2-0 win over Winthrop last Wednesday at the James McVan/Louis O’Keefe Rink in Peabody — their first-ever tournament win, Roach, who has been at the helm for four years, attributed the win to her team’s tireless work over the years. “It means a lot to all of us but I’m especially happy for these girls who have worked so hard over the past few years,” said Roach. “We set so many goals for ourselves this year and we really wanted to reach them, so to start knocking items off our list has been really great for us.” In somewhat fitting fashion, it was three of the longest-tenured veterans who won this one for the Tanners. Senior Kathryn DiGiulio scored both goals for Peabody, while Robert added one assist. In net, Buckley had one of her best games of the season with a 25-save shutout. FILE PHOTO “I think Kat probably had one of the best overall games out of anyone tonight,” said Roach. “And Abby just had a typical Abby Buckley night where she stood on her head. I think it’s really special for those girls because of how hard they’ve worked. They’re the backbone of our team and I couldn’t be happier for them.” Winthrop certainly had its chances throughout the game, including a pair of breakaway opportunities and a couple of wide-open nets. But a combination of bad bounces and big plays by Peabody kept the Vikings off the board. Winthrop freshman goalie Summer Tallent had a solid game, notching 21 saves. The first period saw the Tanners outshoot Winthrop 12-5. After coming close to a goal several times, including on a power play, Peabody finally broke through with just over a minute left in the period. As Winthrop was trying to clear the puck out of its own zone, Robert stepped in, took control of the puck and sent it down behind the net. DiGiulio took it from there, quickly circling around the net and firing a shot past Tallent to give Peabody the 1-0 lead. It was a very similar story in the second period, except this time it was Winthrop that outshot Peabody. Both teams got a chance on the power play as well, but neither could cash in. Then, with under two minutes to go in the period, Peabody made its move. After making a steal in the defensive zone, DiGiulio raced up the ice in a two-on-one with Jen Flynn. As they came into the Winthrop zone, DiGiulio faked a pass to get enough room to shoot and fired a shot from the right circle to put the Vikings up 2-0. Winthrop got another power play chance in the third period, but once again the Vikings couldn’t cash in. And although Winthrop went on a torrid run of scoring chances in the final few minutes of the game, Buckley and the Tanners stood tall and skated away with the shutout win.
MARCH 7, 2019 WEEKLYNEWS.NET - 978-532-5880 11 Girls basketball rebirth continues By Anne Marie Tobin It pays to be in the right place at the right time. Nobody knows that better than the No. 6 Lynnfield girls basketball team, which hardly broke a sweat Sunday afternoon with a 69-43 rout over No. 4 Greater Lawrence at Greater Lawrence. With the win, the Pioneers advanced to an all-Cape Ann League semifinal matchup Wednesday, March 6, at Whittier Tech (7 p.m.) against Amesbury, the No. 2 seed (results too late to print). Junior captain Melissa Morelli had a double-double with 16 points and 14 rebounds while freshman Cate MacDonald scored a game-high 21 points with seven rebounds and two steals. The game was the second straight lop-sided tournament win for the Pioneers — and the second straight game in which the outcome was pretty much decided by halftime. Despite the win, Pioneer coach Peter Bocchino was not happy with the Pioneers’ performance. “We did not play well at all tonight and we are going to have to play a lot better against Amesbury,” Bocchino said. “There was way too much selfish play going on. They settled for the first available shot on offensive instead of working the ball around to get the best look. And you could see that we shot the ball horribly as a team as a result. Our fours and fives got caught sleeping for the most part in that they were not moving with the ball. We are going to need a miracle unless we tighten up the screws on defense.” MacDonald had a hot hand early with 11 first-quarter points to help the Pioneers jump out to an 18-4 lead. The Pioneers kept their foot on the gas in the second period. This time it was sophomore captain and point guard Grace Klonsky and junior captain Tori Morelli who stepped up. Klonsky opened the quarter with a pretty behind-the-back layup. After a three-pointer by Greater Lawrence senior forward Laisha Joaquin, Melissa Morelli swished two free throws, then polished off a fastbreak layup (from twin sister Tori) to bump the lead to 24-9. But the Pioneers were only getting started. Melissa Morelli knocked down two jumpers, then Klonsky added two more with a highlight reel under-handed scoop to stretch the lead to 20, 32-12. Junior Jaslyn Abreu temporarily stopped the bleeding with a bucket, but Lynnfield took up where it left off. The Pioneers closed out the half with a 7-0 run on a threepointer by freshman Riley Hallahan, a back door layup by Tori Morelli (from Melissa) and a Klonsky steal and coast-tocoast layup to send the Pioneers into halftime with a 25-point lead, 39-14. The Reggies showed no quit, however and opened the second half with a 5-0 run to get the lead down to 20,39-19. But that was as close as the Reggies got the rest of the game. Klonsky had a solid allaround game with 10 points, four steals and three rebounds, while Hallahan contributed six points and four rebounds off the bench. Sophomore Ava Buonfiglio also delivered quality minutes off the bench with six points, five rebounds and three assists. “Playing soft games like we have had in the first two rounds is tough,” Bocchino said. “We should have had 100 points tonight, that’s the type of game this was. The only thing to come out of games like this one is that we were able to get the bench kids in early and they got a lot of minutes.” Bocchino highlighted the play of Klonsky, MacDonald and Hallahan. “Grace was unbelievable handling the ball and both she and Cate were flawless at both ends of the court both offensively and defensively,” Bocchino said. “Riley got a lot of minutes and she played really well, especially considering she is undersized yet plays two positions, the two and the four, and it’s physical out there. She takes a beating at times.” Also contributing to the winning effort were sophomore Ava Buonfiglio (5 points, 3 rebounds); Tori Morelli (4 points, 7 rebounds); freshman Abby Adamo (3 points); freshman Lucy Cleary (3 rebounds, 2 points) and sophomore Caroline Waisnor (2 points, 4 rebounds). On Feb. 27, the Pioneers achieved something that hadn’t pulled off since Barack Obama was in the White House. They won a tournament game — their first since 2009. In their own gym, the Pioneers manhandled No. 11 Charlestown (9-10) in front of a large and enthusiastic home crowd, defeating the visitors in a rout, 53-9. MacDonald scored a gamehigh 12 points and added four rebounds, five steals and a block, while sophomore Caroline Waisnor scored nine points with three steals and two rebounds. The Morelli twins had solid all-around games with six points each. Melissa also chipped in six rebounds, a steal and block, while Tori added two rebounds, three blocks and three steals. Freshman Lucy Cleary was strong in the paint, coming PHOTO | ANNE MARIE TOBIN Cate MacDonald, left, scored a game-high 21 points and pulled down seven rebounds in the Greater Lawrence win. She’s seen here battling the Reggies’ Shanely Henriquez. 2 Large Cheese Pizzas $14.99 in off the bench and grabbing a game-high seven rebounds. “This is the type of game where you walk a fine line and the girls knew that so I think instinctively they didn’t have their strongest motor going,” said Bocchino, this year’s Cape Ann League Kinney Division Coach of the Year. “The good news we were able to rest some of our kids who are nursing injuries and we got everyone a lot of minutes. We had a slow start and our three-point shooters didn’t shoot the ball well, but we didn’t have to.” Both teams started tentatively and turned the ball over on their first two possessions. Melissa Morelli broke the ice about a minute in with a turn-around jumper. Lynnfield enjoyed a considerable size advantage, which the Pioneers leveraged into a 14-0 lead after the opening quarter. Charlestown continued to struggle at both ends of the court the rest of the half. After Waisnor drained a three-pointer to start the second quarter, Charlestown finally got on the board with a free throw by junior Alizey Marshall to cut the Pioneers’ lead to 17-1 with 6:35 left in the half That was as close as the Townies came. Lynnfield went to the bench and it closed out the half with a 29-1 Pioneer lead. Charlestown showed some life in the third quarter and put seven points on the board but it was too little too late. “Lynnfield was tough, they came right out and punched us in the face,” said Townies first-year coach Chris Bilodeau. “”We struggled from the start to get on track, but I was proud of our effort, especially Alizey, who was playing with a sprained ankle but gave it her all tonight. We’ve had had great year and with most of the girls coming back next year, I think we have something to build on in the future.” For Lynnfield, freshman Riley Hallahan (6 rebounds) and freshman Anna Radulski (5 rebounds, steal) had four points each, while freshman Abby Adamo (2 steals) hit one threepointer. Freshmen Cat Ciolfi (steal) and Morgan DeGrazia (steal) chipped in two points each. CATERING TAKE-OUT •Dinners • Sandwiches • Salads • Daily Specials 978-532-2791 santoros.com
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