LYNN – Call her Kaylee clutch.
In a stunning finish Wednesday night, freshman Kaylee Dinkel’s goal with six seconds left forced overtime, then she sent a shot that Alyssa Norden tipped in for the winner to lift the St. Mary’s of Lynn girls hockey team to a signature 3-2 win over Malden Catholic.
The sequence ended a battle of strong goaltending by Lancers goalie Isabella Silva (26 saves) and Spartans sophomore Avery Sico (27 saves), and is the kind of confident play St. Mary’s head coach Frank Pagliuca has looked for from the group – even in a 7-0-1 start.
“It was a good battle, obviously, we’re excited that we came out on top,” he said. “We’ll take it and we’ll move on. I was proud of our kids, who battled back. … I like that resiliency that they showed tonight.”
Both teams traded pockets of carrying play. Much of the time it was St. Mary’s starting hot before Malden Catholic (5-4) hit a groove in the second half of each period. And in the third, as Silva saved the first 11 shots she saw in the frame, it seemed like a winning formula for the Lancers after Julia Price finished a three-shot frenzy for a 2-1 lead with 4:34 to go.
Malden Catholic killed off a late penalty, and some 6-on-4 play, to preserve the lead. Silva made a few key saves in the last minute. Traffic congested in front as the last 15 seconds ticked down in a late scramble, and Dinkel scooped a puck at the point for a low-lofted shot into the pile.
It somehow bounced through to tie the score at 2-2 for her first goal of the year.
“I saw the puck and I was like, ‘Just get it to the net,’ ” Dinkel said. “Everyone was in front of the net, I was the only one there. … I saw the opening.”
Just 1:19 into overtime, it was then a much harder shot from Dinkel at the point that Norden tipped home.
“We’ve been trying to preach over the last couple weeks, ‘Keep it simple,’ ” Pagliuca said. “I think sometimes we’re trying to do too much. Last goal – shot, tip, goal. (Norden), I told her early in the game she has to get more net-front presence. She’s got great hands and she made a great tip on that. All good things.”
Freshman Anabelle Collins’ first career goal got scoring started in the first period for St. Mary’s, though Malden Catholic dialed up the intensity to respond. Abbie Poole’s highlight-reel, back-handed assist from just inside the left circle set up Maggie Boudreau at the backdoor post to head into the second in a 1-1 game.
Aside from the go-ahead goal in the third Malden Catholic finished off, Sico and the St. Mary’s defense did well to limit them in several pockets.
“(We were) playing the puck, keeping our gaps,” Dinkel said. “We’ve been bad on our gaps these past games, but keeping those gaps, especially on the better players.”
