WHS Girls Hockey Tops Longmeadow; Falls to Austin Prep
The Winthrop High girls hockey team experienced the meaning of the long-time sports axiom, “The thrill of victory and the agony of defeat,” this past week in the opening rounds of the Division 1 state hockey tournament with a triumph over Longmeadow last Thursday and a loss to Austin Prep on Monday.
In the emotional win over Longmeadow at Larsen Rink, Winthrop trailed 1-0 for most of the contest. The Lady Vikings had entered the tourney as the 16th seed in D-1 with a 17-0-1 record, while the Lady Lancers were seeded 17th with a regular season mark of 8-7-1.
Longmeadow grabbed an early lead midway through the opening period on a bang-bang play that began with a pass out front frm behind the Winthrop net.
Though that would prove to be the lone goal allowed by WHS netminder Summer Tallent, the Lady Viking offense was unable to make a dent in the Lady Lancer net despite some nice opportunities over the next two full periods.
“We had our chances and I felt we carried the play in the first period despite being down 1-0,” said WHS head coach Anthony Martucci. “The second period was back-and-forth, but both goalies stood up. Summer Tallent was awesome for us, making some great stops. Our defense was battling hard to keep them from adding to their lead.
“But our captains were not ready to end their season and basically made a decision that the team was not going home,” said Martucci of the 1-0 deficit facing his squad with 15 minutes of their season remaining.
Winthrop finally broke through at 5:45 of the third period when Emma Holmes, the team’s leading scorer, poked the puck past the Lady Lancer goalie amidst a scramble just to the right of the Longmeadow crease.
WHS freshman Talia Martucci had poked the rebound from a Lily Tallent shot over to Emma, who fended off a Longmeadow defender to reach the back of the Lady Lancer net.
“It was a dirty goal, but it got the party started,” said Martucci.
The contest remained deadlocked for the next seven minutes when, with only 2:35 left to play, freshman defenseman Amelia Spencer made a heads-up play inside the Longmeadow blue line when she pinched down the wing to steal the puck along the boards from a Longmeadow player to the far left of the Lady Lancer net.
Amelia took two strides after she picked up the puck and ripped a shot from the half wall into the top corner, short side, beating the stunned Lady Lancer goalie over her shoulder.
“It was just an amazing play by Amelia. She is a heart-and-soul player and you could tell by the way she celebrated that awesome goal,†said Martucci of Spencer’s exuberant reaction after she scored.
With the sold-out crowd and the teams bracing for a down-to-the-wire finish, anticipating that Longmeadow would be pulling its goalie for a sixth skater, Talia Martucci and Emma Holmes connected again with 1:30 to play when Martucci hit Holmes with a zip pass from along the right board at center ice just as Emma was reaching the Longmeadow blue line.
Emma took the pass, crossed the blue line, made a hard move on the Longmeadow defender, and then let fly a low-wrist shot from 30 feet out that cleanly beat the Longmeadow goalie.
“Emma is a gifted goal scorer,” said Martucci. “She is a junior who currently has 93 career points. She has high-end skills and Is just an awesome hockey player.â€
The Lady Lancers did pull their goalie in the final minute, but were unable to muster a scoring threat.
“Longmeadow was a very good team,” said Martucci. “They were fast, physical, and very tough. They battled us very hard right from the start.
“Summer Tallent was incredible once again,” said Martucci of his co-MVP Northeastern Hockey League netminder. “She broke another single season record. This time it was Katie Burt’s 17 single-season victories mark. Summer now holds the career shutouts record (24), the career wins record (59), and the single season wins record (18).
“Our defensive corps once again was stout,” Martucci added. “Elle English, Abby Holmes, Adrianna Rizzotto, Amelia Spencer, Teegan Pereira, Avalina Coffey, Casey Petersen, and Izi Hain have been great all season. They really did an awesome job in this game.
“Upfront we got some great performances by our centers, Julia Holmes, Mia Norris, and Lily Tallent,” Martucci continued. “Center is a very demanding position and I am very confident when I say I would put our three up against anyone in the state.”
The victory earned the Winthrop girls a trip to Merrimack College for a Sweet 16 contest with Austin Prep, the consensus #1 girls team in the state, that would bring together the only two undefeated girls teams in Massachusetts this season.
The Lady Cougars, who will be leaving the MIAA and joining the New England Prep School Association in the fall, entered the game with a 21-0 record, having outscored their opponents by the phenomenal margin of 120-9 this season, including an 11-0 rout of Ursuline Academy in their first-round tourney meeting.
In short, the Lady Cougars are the equivalent of the Soviet hockey teams from the 1970s in the high school ranks.
However, unlike in 1980, when Winthrop’s own Mike Eruzione spearheaded the U.S. team to an against-all-odds upset of the mighty Soviets, there was to be no Miracle on Ice for the Lady Vikings.
The Prep took control from the outset, scored a goal just 1:53 into the game, and added another before the period ended. Winthrop stayed close, buoyed by the outstanding play of Tallent, who ended up with 37 saves on the evening, but the Lady Cougars put home a big goal before the end of the second period for a 3-0 cushion.
With Winthrop trying to press on offense in the third period, the Prep lit the lamp for three more goals for the 6-0 finale.
“Austin Prep was a phenomenal team,” said Martucci. “They had some highly-skilled players and they could flat out fly. We held our own for the first two periods despite them carrying the play. Summer Tallent did all she could to keep us in the game. She was an absolute beast in our net making 37 saves.
“One thing I will say is we never gave up and that is all I can ask of my team,” Martucci continued. “It hurts to go home early in the tourney, but we played 20 games this year and only lost one. That is an amazing feat, as well only allowing a grand total of 27 goals all season which is a program record.
“I think playing a team like Austin Prep will really help us next year.,” Martucci added. “The experience the younger girls got this year with having the burden of being undefeated going into game-after-game, and playing against strong teams like Peabody, Belmont, and Austin Prep, will only make us stronger heading into next year.
“I want to thank my four seniors, Summer Tallent, Mia Martucci, Elle English, and Kendall Brant, for all that they did for the team and the program,” Martucci concluded. “They are four elite leaders who will be greatly missed next year.”
WHS Boys, Girls Hoop Teams Fall in Tourney
The Winthrop High girls and boys basketball team dropped their Round of 32 contests in the Division 4 state basketball tournament.
The Lady Vikings, who were the undisputed champions of the South Division of the Northeastern Conference this season with an overall record of 16-6 and who were ranked 21st in D-4, traveled to #12 seed Hamilton-Wenham last Friday and came up on the short end of a 42-36 decision.
H-W went on to defeat #5 seed Tyngsboro in the Sweet 16, 58-56, and now will face #4 Amesbury in the Elite Eight.
On the boys side, the Vikings, seeded 28th in D-4, traveled to the South End Saturday afternoon for a meeting with #5 Cathedral, dropping an 84-56 decision.
Cathedral subsequently was eliminated from the tourney with a 47-44 loss to #12 Manchester-Essex in the Sweet 16.