Four down, one to go.
It seems like no team can stop St. Mary's, which thumped Arlington, 7-1, last night in an MIAA Division 1 girls' hockey semifinal at Salem State.
The Spartans will face Wakefield Tuesday night at Harvard in the state championship game.
St. Mary's has outscored its three tournament opponents, 22-4.
Though the final score would indicate a rout, looks can be deceiving. The game was scoreless as the teams traded scoring chances throughout the first period. St. Mary's finally broke through with 41 seconds left in the opening period when sophomore Erin McAndrews intercepted a clearing attempt by the Spy Ponder defense, skated in alone, and dented the net. The forward's quick thinking was the turning point for top-ranked St. Mary's (23-0), which took control following the goal.
"We did not come out strong in the first period," said St. Mary's coach Frank Pagliuca. "We didn't play our game, we played very inconsistent. Erin sparked us tonight with that goal at the end of the first period. That was just hustle and hard work.
"I think that goal woke us up in the second and third periods."
The Spartans ran over Arlington (16-3-4) in the second period, scoring five times. Christen Hart opened the scoring 1:15 in, off a feed from Abby Gauthier (four assists) and Sabrina Iannetti (1 goal, 1 assist).
Arlington (16-3-4) didn't score until 8:51 into the final period as Victoria Messuri beat Spartan netminder Kelsey Magrane (11 saves). But the Spartans answered with a shorthanded goal by Courtney Winters (2 goals, 1 assist) for the final score.
In the late matchup, Wakefield (19-3-1) relied on senior captain Cheryl Pitts to earn a 3-2 overtime win over Woburn.
Pitts tied the game late in the third period to force the extra session, then picked up a loose puck off a faceoff and buried it in the far corner for the winner.
Boys
Division 3 South: Westwood's Stephen McManus netted the game-winner 3:04 into overtime as the Wolverines defeated Silver Lake, 5-4, in the semifinals at Gallo Ice Arena. Westwood will face Scituate, which took a 5-1 win over Pembroke, in Sunday's final.
Andy Musto started the scoring in the first period for the Wolverines (15-4-4), but they entered the third period down, 3-1. Goals from McManus, Matt Pruchieniwski, and Freddy Tomsberg put them up, 4-3, midway through the stanza, but No. 13 Silver Lake (14-9-2) responded with a fourth tally to force overtime.
