St. Mary's teams going for glory this weekend

By Steve Krause / The Daily Item

LYNN - St. Mary's High School has been on the brink - for several years - of something truly special in local sports.

The Spartans have won multiple championships in girls hockey and softball, and have been close - sometimes painfully so - to the top in football, boys hockey, boys soccer and girls basketball.

But this winter, the school has hit the mother lode. Saturday, three of the Spartans' winter teams will play for MIAA North Sectional championships. The fourth - three-time defending Division 1 state champs girls hockey team - won't be playing after Thursday night's 3-2 overtime loss to Hingham in Stoneham.

But the Lynn-Winthrop-Saugus combination girls hockey squad, the Lady Bulldogs, will be carrying the city's banner against that very same Hingham squad in the Division 1 state semifinal in Stoneham on Sunday at 3 p.m.

"It's obviously great for the school to see so many programs thriving," says boys hockey coach Mark Lee, one of three coaches who also attended St. Mary's. "It's a credit to what we're doing here. And it's amazing to see so many kids pulling for one another."

The festivities get off the ground at 2 p.m. Saturday when the girls basketball team meets Stoneham in the Division 3 North final at Lowell's Tsongas Arena. It continues at 3:45 with the boys Division 4 North final against Winthrop (Vikings coach Dave Brown is also a St. Mary's graduate).

And it concludes at 7:40 Saturday night when the boys hockey team vies for the Division 1 North title against Wakefield at the Chelmsford Forum.

If any of the aforementioned teams have flown under the radar all winter, it's been boys basketball, which ended the regular season in a three-way tie for the Catholic Central League/Large title.

"We had expectations to go far, at the beginning of the season," said senior Nick Gagliolo, who is the team's leading scorer. "But the biggest thing for us was to win our first tournament game. We'd never won one as long as I've been here."

A decade ago, the boys and girls teams won twin Division 4 state titles under coaches Artie Gribbons (girls) and Mike O'Brien (boys, who went back-to-back in 2001 and 2002). Kevin Moran, who took the program over when O'Brien stepped down, has slowly built it back, with players such as Gagliolo, Rosanto Campbell and Matt Manning.

"I'm happy to be at the only school in the state that has all four winter sports teams competing for championships," said Campbell. "I had high expectations that we'd make it this far."

So did Manning.

"We definitely wanted to be in a league title and then the Christmas tournament," he said (English won the Boverini, however). "At times, it's been a struggle, especially at the end of the season, but we had almost a week off before our first tournament game and we regrouped."

St. Mary's girls coach Jeff Newhall says both basketball teams have been relative surprises.

"Both our hockey teams have traditions of going deep in tournaments," Newhall said. "Not so much our basketball teams."

After exiting the Division 3 tournament in the sectional semifinal both in 2009 and last year (losing to Pentucket both times), the Spartans finally broke the barrier Wednesday night. Making it even better, they beat Pentucket, 62-60.

"I can't even tell you how that feels," said Cassi Amenta, one of four seniors whose leadership has been invaluable to Newhall. "You couldn't even put it into words."

That wasn't the only hurdle the Lady Spartans had to climb. They hadn't won a league title in girls basketball of any kind since 1987 until they won the CCL/Large, uncontested, this year.

"That's all I saw, all year, was that banner on the wall that said '1987, league champions,'" said guard Kirsten Ferrari, whose shooting has helped propel the Spartans to Saturday's final. "Now, next year, it'll say 2011."

"It makes us feel as if we've done something positive for the school," says Molly Carey, who made it back from the ACL tear she suffered in lacrosse last spring to play in the last five regular-season games.

Without Carey, and graduated senior Bria Tiro, the Spartans - even with their nucleus - had to hunt around for two players to fill the void. They found one in freshman Brianna Rudolph, a guard who moved in from Medford, and the other in Jennie Mucciarone.

"They both fit in right away," said center Tori Faieta, the all-time scoring leader in St. Mary's girls hoop history.

The boys hockey team, like the girls basketball squad, won its league for the first time ever. It also made the Super 8 play-in game, losing to Central Catholic, 3-1.

"We're proud of that," said Lee "It didn't work out, so we're moving on. We're also proud to be in the Division 1 North final for the second straight year."

The Spartans want to do more than just be there this time.

"We've improved every year from the year before," said player Cam Kennedy of Lynn. "The next step is to go all the way.

"We were close last year (losing in the sectional final to Arlington Catholic), but we're all a year older. We didn't lose a lot from last year's team."

Kennedy definitely absorbs how special this all is.

"It's pretty cool," he said. "I've gone to the school three years, and for everyone to be this involved and wishing everyone well ... it's cool."

March 10th

Home > Sports St. Mary's earns repeat trip to Division 1 North finals By Matthew Roy / For The Item NORTH BILLERICA - From the opening face-off to the final buzzer on Wednesday, it was a virtuoso performance by the St. Mary's hockey team. Turning the Chelmsford Forum ice into their own personal playground, the Spartans simply overwhelmed No. 5 seed Winchester from the get-go as 11 different players recorded at least a point in an 8-2 destruction by the No. 1 seed in the Division 1 North semifinals. The Spartans (16-6-3) will take on Wakefield on Saturday (7:40) at the Forum in the sectional title tilt. "From the drop of the puck we brought energy, discipline and St. Mary's hockey at its best," St. Mary's coach Mark Lee said. "We played three periods of hockey about as good as we could (Wednesday)." St. Mary's put on a clinic in all three zones on Wednesday. The Spartans uncorked 42 shots on the Winchester goal while holding the Sachems to 25, many of them not being quality chances. "Our defense was the rock that we needed (Wednesday)," Lee said. "They came out and played very solid." The Spartans were swarming in the Sachems zone almost immediately and their pressure paid off at 5:36 when defenseman Cam Kennedy launched a shot from the blue line and it slipped past the right pad of Winchester goalie Sam Robinson. A little over four minutes later, the Spartans went on the power play and took full advantage as Bobby Mullins followed a James Perkins shot and lifted a backhander past Robinson at 9:36. "Our work ethic is what makes us successful and we certainly had that (Wednesday)," Lee said. The second period would be even more dominant for the Spartans as Winchester struggled at times to even get the puck out of its zone. It took only 107 seconds for St. Mary's to strike as Cam O'Neill cruised across the slot and tipped home Kennedy's slap shot from the left point for a 3-0 lead. "Cam certainly has been a pleasant surprise. We knew he was a pretty good athlete but he's scored some timely goals for us," Lee said. St. Mary's continued to dominate the period, winding up with 14 shots on the Winchester net in the middle period, but Robinson was able to keep the Sachems close until Tommy Braswell scored nearly a carbon copy goal to O'Neill's with 1:00 left to make it 4-0 Spartans after two. The relentless Spartans turned up the juice in the third as Winchester tried to claw its way back. James Perkins put the game away at 2:15 when he broke in with Braswell on a 2-on-1 and roofed a shot over Robinson's shoulder. The Sachems spoiled Donald Hesse's shutout bid with a power play goal by Nolan Redler at 4:59 before St. Mary's put the finishing touches on its nearly perfect night. O'Neill got his second of the game on a power play at 7:32 before assisting on Connor Parent's goal at 9:32. Brendan Mageary upped the lead to 8-1 on a breakaway at 13:03 before Winchester's Nick Ducharme closed the scoring. "All the success we've had comes down to the hard work of these kids," Lee said. "They never stop working out there."

St. Marys vs. Burlington

St. Mary's boys hockey rallies, ousts Burlington

By Matthew Roy / For The Item

WOBURN - It took a 2-0 deficit and the end of its season staring it straight in the face to give the St. Mary's boys hockey team the boost it needed in its Division 1 North quarterfinal meeting with Burlington on Saturday.

The Red Devils had outplayed the Spartans for the first 20 minutes on Saturday but with three goals in a 2:39 span of the second period, St. Mary's assumed control and rolled to a 5-2 win and a date with Winchester in the semis on Wednesday (5:10) at the Chelmsford Forum.

Click here for a photo gallery.

"This team showed (Saturday) that they want to keep playing," St. Mary's coach Mark Lee said. "I am so proud of this group. They didn't quit down 2-0 and that's why they had the ability to come back."

Showing a bit of rust after four days off, the Spartans were held to only two shots on net in the first period and found themselves in a 1-0 hole when Dan McMahon scored at 3:03 just after a St. Mary's penalty expired.

The plight for St. Mary's got worse early in the second when Joe Berardi tipped home a Brian DeJoy shot at 5:33 for a 2-0 Red Devils lead. In need of a kick start, St. Mary's got it when it went on the power play midway through the period.

Nikko Markham's blast from the left point, assisted by Cam O'Neill and James Perkins, got the Spartans on the board. Just over two minutes later, Julian Yourawski scored on a Cam Kennedy rebound to tie the game at 2-2.

Off the ensuing draw, Connor Parent sprung Brendan Mageary for a breakaway goal 10 seconds later to give St. Mary's a stunning 3-2 lead after two periods.

"We've struggled on the power play all year and we spent extra time in practice working on it this week. It was nice to see it pay off," Lee said.

Derek Stella kept the Spartan bandwagon rolling at 4:18 of the third when he followed his own shot and tucked a wraparound inside the right post. Tim Aylward capped the comeback at 10:12, assisted by Bucky Surette.

"We came out a little flat but this team found a way to get the job done," Lee said. "I am so proud of them for that."

Newburyport tourney

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• Newburyport's Cooper Hines checks St Mary's Cam Kennedy off the puck during their game in the final of the 16th annual Newburyport Bank Classic Tournament. Jim Vaiknoras/Staff photographer
  

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February 26, 2011

Win-win championship affair

St. Mary's takes title; Clippers better prepared for road ahead

By John Shimer Staff writer The Daily News of Newburyport Sat Feb 26, 2011, 03:59 AM EST

NEWBURYPORT — These are the games that Newburyport (12-4-4) lives to play for, championship game against the best competition out there.

The fact that St. Mary's (14-5-3) will be a likely Super 8 participant is just an added bonus for the Clippers — who have taken on all comers in recent years, including the Spartans last year, Malden Catholic the year before that, Central Catholic in back-to-back years before that, and Franklin each of the last four years. It's just better preparation for the Division 2 state tournament.

Last night in the championship game of the 16th Annual Newburyport Bank Classic Tournament's toughest bracket — the Bresnahan Division — the Spartans were just a little too deep and a little too speedy for Newburyport, exacting revenge for last year's Clippers' shootout championship, 5-1.

After the Clippers had several great opportunities in the first five minutes of the first period, including a near-goal by David Cusack from his knees in front of goal and then a shot from Nathan Hickman that whistled just wide left after a great two-line feed that had in on the break, St. Mary's took control of the game.

Tallying two late goals in the first period — a beautiful bit of skating by Chris Surette to find open ice to snap off a quick wrister for the first, then a great bit of individual determination by Julian Yourawski, beating his defender by firing a shot and following for the rebound goal — the Spartans weren't content and buried the first two of the second period, as well, to go up, 4-0.

Newburyport would get its lone goal of the game when Sean Dillon made a brilliant diving tip pass to knock the puck ahead up ice for Cusack to latch onto before he made two nice dekes and just barely tucked the puck home with an assist also going to Cooper Hines on the play late in the second, 4-1. But St. Mary's had the final answer and the final goal on a power play less than two minutes into the third to seal the victory.

"I'm very happy with our effort. I think we played hard. We skated hard for three periods, and I think if we skate hard for three periods, we're a good team," Clipper coach Paul Yameen said. "That team is a very good team, and I don't think it was a 5-1 game. I think we had a couple of opportunities there early we didn't capitalize on, and against a team like that, you've got to capitalize, and we didn't. I hate to lose, but if you lose to a team like that, you definitely can take some positives out of it.

"Again, win or lose against a team like that, it's good preparation for the tournament," Yameen added. "I think if we bring the same mental attitude, toughness, and skate like that, we'll be fine next week, but we've got to do it. It's about being consistent with it."

Yameen was also very praiseworthy of his seniors, who have picked up their play in the absence of senior captain Billy Boudreau's knee injury that looks to have ended his season.

"I think our seniors stepped up," Yameen said. "A kid like David Cusak and Greg Schofield and Sean Dillon, they're three seniors that don't get much ink, so to speak. Other guys on this team get all that, but they're great. I can't say enough about them.

"If you told me that we were going to lose Billy Boudreau five games in and we were going to go 11-2-3 in our league, which I think is one of the toughest leagues around, I'd say we were Cape Ann League champions, but that didn't happen," said the coach. "But those seniors were a big part of that. Those three guys, along with Gaven LaValley, I've got to tip my hat to them, and I just hope we can win a few more for them in the state tournament."

Coming off one of their best games of the year, when the Spartans crushed Lincoln-Sudbury in the first game of the tournament, 11-1, St. Mary's coach Mark Lee said playing Newburyport is always a great test.

"Every year we play Newburyport, it's a battle," Lee said. "I don't care who it is, I don't know what it is. Some years, they're up, we're down, vice versa. No matter what, Newburyport-St. Mary's is always a good high school hockey game.

"This was designed perfectly for us, especially playing Newburyport in a championship-type game," said Lee, who added that the key was playing four lines, which he believed wore down Newburyport halfway through the game. "They gave us an awful lot of work today, and we're lucky enough to win the tournament, but the game itself is preparing for the tournament. I think for both programs, it was a win-win situation."

And now that Wilmington is leaving the CAL, Newburyport has two open non-league to fill each year. According to Yameen, St. Mary's appears to be the obvious choice for a potential home-and-home series starting next year.

"I just talked to coach Lee about doing a home and home next year, and he's all for it," Yameen said. "We might change up the bracket here in the Bank Tournament next year to get them home and home because we have two non-league games with Wilmington leaving that we have to add. I think that's a no-brainer for us."

Coach Lee is interviewed

http://espn.go.com/blog/boston/high-school/post/_/id/5262/freshman-hayes-the-hero-for-central-catholic