FRAMINGHAM — One is a senior. One is a freshman. Together on Sunday night at Loring Arena, they propelled the St. Mary’s girls hockey team to a return engagement at TD Garden.
Gianna Tringale made 36 saves and Bella Freitas scored 3:43 into the first sudden death overtime period to give the Spartans a 2-1 win over a gritty and game Archbishop Williams team.
St. Mary’s (22-3-1) will now face No.1 Notre Dame (Hingham) next Sunday for the state championship.
“Williams gave us everything they had and for the first two periods really outplayed us,” Spartans coach Frank Pagliuca said. “But I can’t say enough about this group. For us to get back to the Garden with what we lost is a tremendous accomplishment.”
Tringale, who came into this her senior season having never started a game, shone under extreme pressure on Sunday. With her counterpart, Kate McLeish, holding things down at her end of the ice, it was up to Tringale to help the Spartans stem the tide of a motivated Bishops team.
“I just had to trust my team,” Tringale said.
Williams (12-11-2) dominated most of the first 30 minutes as they held St. Mary’s to only 10 shots on net. Tringale, meanwhile, had to stop a bevy of quality chances in keeping the game scoreless heading to the third.
“Gianna was just outstanding,” Pagliuca said. “We really needed that senior leadership and she stepped up and did an amazing job.”
In need of something to get its potent offense going, the Spartans got it via a 5-on-3 power play early in the final period. Williams killed the first penalty but not the second as Alyssa Norden deflected Freitas’ shot from the left circle past McLeish for a 1-0 lead at 5:41.
“That first goal really picked us up,” Freitas said.
If it picked up the Spartans, it did the same thing for Williams. It took just a little over two minutes for the Bishops to draw even when seventh grader McKenzie Lima-Tower scored on the rebound of Caroline Batchelder’s shot.
Williams kept the onslaught going as they put 17 shots on Tringale in the third but couldn’t get the winner.
After both teams had good chances to begin overtime, Freitas put an end to things with one perfectly placed shot inside the right post after taking a feed from Norden.
“Bella was really fighting it the first couple of periods but like any great player and to her credit, she picked it up in the third and overtime,” Pagliuca said