BOURNE — In a high-pressure Division 1 ladies hockey semifinal matchup at Gallo Enviornment, fifth-seeded Archbishop Williams punched a ticket into the championship at TD Backyard with a 1-0 shutout victory over top-seeded Notre Dame Academy (Hingham) on Saturday night.
NDA got here into this recreation after netting an additional time objective towards the workforce that knocked them out final season, in Bishop Stang, on Thursday night. In the meantime, on Wednesday, Archbishop Williams shut out rival Bishop Feehan 5-0.
“The women have been by means of so much this season, plenty of highs and lows,” mentioned Bishops’ coach Doug Nolan. “However they had been capable of stick collectively to get up to now.”
Maddie Markarian was the lone scorer, as she was capable of benefit from a scramble in entrance of Cougars netminder Erin Kral and discover the again of the online. Emma Tomalonis and McKenzie Lima-Tower had been credited with the assists for the Bishops.
The Cougars had many nice alternatives all through the sport, together with a breakaway that was stopped by Bishops goaltender Maggie Shea. This resulted in a rebound likelihood, which was stopped by a Bishops’ skater.
With two and a half remaining within the recreation, Cougars senior Kayla Maguire thought that she had tied it, nevertheless the puck had simply hit the crossbar, leading to a no-goal. Then NDA had the final of its two energy play alternatives after that shot, however had been unable to capitalize on it, even when the Cougars pulled Kral to get a 6-on-4 benefit.
The Bishops haven’t allowed a objective throughout all the event, with Shea’s excellence being a key purpose why. General, it’s their fifth straight recreation with out permitting a objective, because the streak dates again to a shutout of Braintree within the ultimate recreation of the common season on Feb. 18.
“It was superior, particularly for me, as a result of I’ve been right here since my freshman 12 months, and I’ve been working my tail off, all summer season and fall and spring, it doesn’t matter what, simply to get into a great place,” Shea mentioned.
Archbishop Williams now awaits the outcomes of the Methuen/Tewksbury vs. St. Mary’s (Lynn) recreation. These groups will play on Sunday at 4:30 p.m. on the Chelmsford Discussion board. The Bishops tied and misplaced in additional time to the Spartans within the common season and didn’t face the Purple Rangers.
