Girls Hockey Team Opens with 4-2 Win

The Winthrop High Lady Bulldog hockey team opened its season with a solid 4-2 win over Medford Saturday evening at Larsen Rink. Though the Lady Bulldogs, who are a co-op team among Winthrop, Saugus, and Lynn, never trailed, they were not able to put the pesky Lady Mustangs away until the final minutes of the third period.

Nicole Pucillo earned the distinction of lighting the red lamp for the first time of the 2013-14 campaign for Winthrop with a goal in the opening period, assisted by Jillian Olevitz and Sidney Adamson. Medford knotted matters with a marker in the second frame, but Winthrop responded with a power play goal by Ariana Dembro, assisted by Savannah Norcross and Caroline McKinnon.

Medford continued to hang tough and tied matters at 2-2 early in the third period. However, Ally Scarfo lifted a nice backhander to beat the Lady Mustang goalie, assisted by Pucillo, midway through the frame to put Winthrop back into the lead. Annie Mahoney finally gave the Lady Bulldogs some breathing room with an insurance tally, assisted by McKinnon and Dembro, with about two minutes to play to put the game on ice.

“Our third line came through for us in a big way,” said WHS head coach Anthony Martucci, whose Lady Bulldogs have consistently ranked in the top tier of girls’ hockey teams in Eastern Mass. “They accounted for two of our goals and that proved to be the difference.”

Martucci also had high praise for his blue line corps of Katy Jenner, Kasey Harris, Colby Kernniston, Meghan Chavis, and Cat Salvetti for their fine work in shutting down Medford’s star player, senior Brittany Lanzillo, who already has scored 200 points in her high school career.

“This is the first time we’ve played Medford in which Lanzillo did not score,” noted Martucci, whose squad outshot their opponents 40-24. “Our defense did an outstanding job all night.”

Freshman goaltender Gretchen Howard also also earned Martucci’s plaudits for her solid play in the net.

Martucci and his crew were set to travel to Cambridge yesterday (Wednesday) and will face Matignon at the Stoneham Arena Saturday evening at 8:00.

WHS boys hockey team drops opener

The Winthrop High boys hockey team came out on the short end of a 3-2 decision at Danvers Saturday night in their season-opener.

The Vikings started fast, with senior captain Chris Page lighting the lamp in the opening period for a 1-0 Winthrop lead. However, the Vikings’  early momentum fizzled. Danvers slipped in three unanswered goals over the next two periods to move out to a 3-1 lead.

The Vikings finally snapped back to life in the closing minutes when WHS head coach Dale Dunbar pulled goalie Ray Feeley for a sixth skater. Winthrop slammed home one goal to pull within 3-2 and kept the pressure on in the final, frantic moments, hitting the post and the cross-bar, but could not notch the equalizer.

“It was a very disappointing game,” said Dunbar. “We didn’t play to our capabilities. We started fast, but then played with no sense of urgency until the final minutes.”

The Vikings were set to play at Peabody last night (Wednesday) and will host Marblehead Saturday with a 6:30 face-off at Larsen. Winthrop will journey to Mansfield Monday.

Basketball season-openers postponed; play Danvers Friday

The season-opening contests for the Winthrop boys and girls basketball teams with Gloucester, which had been scheduled for Tuesday, were postponed on account of the Tuesday evening snowstorm and rescheduled for last night (Wednesday).

The girls next will host Danvers tomorrow (Friday) evening for a 7:00 tip-off and then travel to Fontbonne Academy Monday evening.

The boys will trek to Danvers Friday night and host Pope John Monday evening. Both games will start at 7:00.

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