St. Mary’s full reload
Despite huge grad losses, Spartans looking strong
Frank Pagliuca views the beginning of every season as the start of a new chapter.
That sentiment may never have been truer than this year.
Entering his 18th season as coach of the St. Mary’s girls’ hockey program, Pagliuca is minus three impact players who headlined the 2023 graduating class: 150-point scorers Jenna Chaplain (235) and Maggie Pierce (181), along with starting goalie Ang Catino. In all, last year’s Division 1 runners-up return just three seniors and nine total players.
But rather than rebuild, Pagliuca’s team is ready to reload.
There’s a strong confidence in this group of young Spartans, led by a defensive corps that retains four of its top six and a dynamic freshman forward.
“We lost a lot of great players … on to bigger and better things,” Pagliuca said. “But this is great — it’s unknown. We have a lot of new players working their way in, a lot of excitement … new experiences. It’s enjoyable; it really is.”
The key cog is senior captain Kasey Litwin, one of the trio of seniors. Litwin not only moves the puck well but can singlehandedly create offense.
Pagliuca hailed Litwin as a “calming presence” on the blue line. From dancing through defenders on the rush to navigating down below the goal to score a wraparound on the power play, Litwin used a season-opening 8-0 win over Bishop Fenwick to display her offensive prowess.
“She’s one of the better defensemen in the state,” Pagliuca said. “She just really sets the tone for us.”
Her surehandedness on the blue line, along with senior captain Regan Sullivan, junior Abby Malcuit, and eighth-grader Vanessa Hall, gives Pagliuca and his staff comfort entering the new season.
“We have a lot of young girls, but we definitely have a good work ethic and we’re starting to click together,” Litwin said.
It’s an additional boost to have an experienced group in front of their inexperienced goalies, senior Gianna Tringale and sophomore Megan Donato, who are stepping into new roles after limited playing time behind Catino.
Among the forwards, freshman Bella Freitas opened her ice hockey account with a hat trick in her first game. She has a chance to be a real weapon with her speed across the ice. She excels at turning corners to catch opponents out of position in the offensive zone.
“We’ve got a lot of new players, and it’s been so good getting to know everyone,” Freitas said.
“To do that in my first high school game, it was a special moment.”
The Spartans return three forwards (Pagliuca praised junior Naomi Evangelista for her improvement) after the graduation of seven seniors and the loss of Gabbi Oakes, who reclassified at Cushing Academy.
“She just plays with a pace,” Pagliuca said of Freitas. “A very high-skilled player, [she’s] got a nasty side to her where she’s competing hard in one-on-one battles. If you give her open space, good things are going to happen. She’s an exciting player, and she has room to grow.”
Ice chips
R At Milton, Matt Lodi is revamping his approach.
After the Wildcats (1-0-0) were ousted in the second round of the Division 2 state tournament, Lodi decided to make the regular-season schedule more challenging, adding Pope Francis, Notre Dame (Hingham), and Canton.
“We want the players to be able to attack this as 22 individual games and really look at each game as its own season,” the fifth-year coach said. “That way, we can remain focused on the task at hand, continue to get better every single day.”
Despite the graduation of seven players, the Wildcats earned an empowering 3-2 overtime win over Marshfield to start the season — thanks to senior goalie Lila Chamoun, who was pivotal in last year’s 18-2-4 run with nine shutouts.
With the two-time captain back in net, Lodi is confident the Wildcats can get right back to the state tournament.
At the beginning of last season, her first as coach at Canton, Nikki Petrich asked the Bulldogs if they believed if they could get to the Division 2 final for a second consecutive year.
“They all said no emphatically, like laughed at me almost,” recalled Petrich. “And I said, ‘Well that’s what’s got to change right now.’ ”
Petrich spent the season carving out a role for every player, allowing each to settle in and develop a sense of confidence that propelled Canton back to the championship game. Though the Bulldogs fell to second-seeded Duxbury, they ended the season with a 19-3-4 record.
Captains Maggie Dailey, Tori Carr, Lila Spinelli, Anna Lehan, and Devan Spinale lead a squad that features 15 returning players and 11 freshmen. Undeterred by the onslaught of new faces, Petrich isn’t changing her outlook on the season. After all, she’s still learning, too.
“[My focus] is what I have in front of me, and how do I make them better,” Petrich said. “They’re understanding me and my coaching style a little bit better, and I understand the returners a little bit better as well.”