Yianacopolus lifts Lancers
LOWELL — Malden Catholic’s Super Eight opener against Marshfield last night at Tsongas Arena couldn’t have gone more according to plan.
The top-seeded Lancers jumped out to an early lead and stayed in control throughout, smothering the eighth-seeded Rams in a 3-0 victory to take Game 1 of the best-of-three quarterfinal series. Game 2 is Wednesday at Chelmsford Forum in Billerica.
Defenseman Matt Yianacopolus had a three-point effort that began when he buried a wrist shot at 3:05 of the first period to give Malden Catholic a lead it never surrendered thanks to goalie Brian Cannata (23 saves).
The Lancers (15-4-3) settled into their methodical defensive system, denying Marshfield any extended offensive chances to get back into the game.
“We just played inside the dots,” Malden Catholic coach Paul McLean said. “We made sure to keep our third forward high and make sure we’re not giving up odd-man rushes.”
A power-play goal from Yianacopolus pushed the lead to 2-0 late in the second, and the he finished his effort with an assist on Colin Nestor’s third-period goal.
Marshfield (19-3-2) erased a three-goal deficit in its play-in game against Austin Prep, but Cannata didn’t let that happen to the Lancers.
“We saw what happened against Austin Prep,” Yianacopolus said. “It was our job to know that we had to keep going, we had to keep bringing it to them.”
Walpole 1, BC High 0 — The doubters still persist, but the Rebels continue to tune out the noise.
Behind a 35-save performance by senior goalie James Corcoran, and an early firstperiod goal from sophomore Conor Foley, seventh-seeded Walpole beat second-seeded BC High (14-3-4) to take Game 1 in the best-of-three quarterfinal set.
Walpole (23-0-1) became the first public school Super Eight entrant to win a quarterfinal game since the format was introduced back in 2013.
“These kids have done it all year long, but this (series) is a long way from over,” Walpole coach Ron Dowd, whose team beat Catholic Memorial in overtime in a play-in game last week, said. “No one still believes that we should still be here, and that is not me making this up. So, it was easy to keep the kids focused.”
Foley accounted for the only goal just 89 seconds into the game. He collected the puck after an Eagles turnover at center ice, skated in alone, and beat BC High goalie Luke Garrity (25 saves) with a nifty backhander for a 1-0 lead the Rebels never relinquished.
Game 2 of the series is tomorrow at Chelmsford Forum in Billerica.
Central Catholic 5, Pope Francis 0 — The sixthseeded Raiders opened the Super Eight with a overwhelming bang.
Central Catholic received points from 10 different players in blanking the third-seeded Cardianls in Game 1 of a best-of-three quarterfinal series.
“We pride ourselves on being able to play everybody,” Central coach Kim Brandvoid said. “Today we played seven defensemen and 13 forwards; we have a lot of depth and that’s certainly important this time of year.”
Central Catholic (15-5-3) opened the scoring when Matthew O’Rourke broke in alone and slipped the puck through the 5-hole of Pope Francis goalie Zac Roncarati (12 saves). Raiders goalie Matthew Pasquale (29 saves) came up huge early as the Cardinals (16-5-1) outshot Central Catholic, 14-6, before the Raiders got on the board.
Sean Brown had two goals for Central Catholic. Thomas Many and William Winship each had a score for the Raiders, who face Pope Francis in Game 2 tomorrow at Chelmsford Forum.