Beats Winthrop, St. Mary’s; plays in quarterfinals Thursday
Published March 6, 2019
WATERTOWN — One game wasn’t enough for the Peabody/Lynnfield/North Reading girls’ co-op hockey team in the Div. 1 tournament.
The 11th-seeded Tanners already made history on Feb. 27 when they defeated No. 22 Winthrop 2-0 at McVann-O’Keefe for the first postseason win in program history. They followed that up by defeating familiar foe St. Mary’s of Lynn in the first round, 4-0 on Monday night at John Ryan Rink in Watertown.
Lynnfield’s senior goalie Abby Buckley might be the most locked-in goalie in the state right now as she kicked off her postseason run with two shutouts. Behind Buckley’s steady presence (25 saves), the Tanners leaned on another senior captain, Kat DiGiulio of Peabody who scored both of her team’s goals, one in the first period and one in the second, as the Tanners took complete control and their penalty kill got the job done in the third.
HOW DO YOU follow up a shutout to give your team their first postseason win in program history? Easy, just do it again. Lynnfield senior captain Abby Buckley recorded 25 saves to beat Winthrop 2-0 in the preliminary round and followed that up with 38 saves during the Tanners’ 4-0 win over rival St. Mary’s in the first round on Monday night. (Mark Grant Photo)
On Monday night, PLNR showed no fear against a Saint Mary’s team who had already beaten them twice in the regular season by a combined score of 9-1. (4-1 on Dec. 12 and 5-0 on Jan. 9).
It was apparent from the puck drop that Peabody was playing with a hop in their step as the majority of play in the first period was in the Saint Mary’s zone. Lauren Vaccaro, the St. Mary’s goalie, made a few amazing saves to keep the game tied 0-0 after one.
The second period started off the same as the first with PLNR skating even faster and getting stronger on the puck. North Reading senior captain Jessica Robert, who got an assist against Winthrop, finally got the Tanners on the scoreboard when she managed to slip one past Vaccaro on a feed from Lynnfield’s Carolyn Garofoli at 12:36 of the period. With 32.3 seconds remaining in period two, Robert stole the puck while shorthanded and beat Vaccaro on a beautiful goal to put PLNR up 2-0 heading into the third.
The third period was a continuance of the first two as PLNR played tight on defense and aggressively on offense. North Reading’s Sammie Mirasolo scored her first goal at 7:44, assisted by fellow Hornet Maria Pierce. Mirasolo’s second goal came unassisted at 11:05 to account for the final score 4-0. Buckley earned her second consecutive playoff shutout, this time with an incredible 38 saves.
It was certainly a big moment for the program who decided they weren’t about to wait another season to get their second playoff win. The victory was extra sweet coming against Peabody head coach Michelle Roach’s alma mater, and the team that knocked PLNR out of the playoffs last season.
The Tanners are on to the quarterfinals against No. 3 Methuen-Tewksbury (19-1-1) on Thursday at O’Brien Ice Rink in Woburn at 5:30 p.m. Methuen’s only loss of the season came to No. 4 Andover who is also still alive in the D1 tournament as they play No. 5 Franklin in the quarterfinals on the other side of the bracket.
The Winner of the PLNR-Metheun-Tewksbury clash will move on to the semifinals to face the winner of No. 15 Shrewsbury vs. No. 7 Longmeadow. The date, location and time of the semifinals is to be announced.
