BILLERICA — No. 1 Austin Prep erased a two-goal deficit, coming from behind to beat No. 9 St. John’s Prep in overtime, 4-3, in the Div. 1 North quarterfinal.
“We found our team identity tonight which we’ve been looking for all year long,” said Austin Prep coach Louis Finocchiaro said. “Hopefully this just allows us to build a little momentum and we can keep it up going forward.”
Austin Prep (17-4-2) found themselves down a man in the extra period, but as the penalty expired a loose puck came to Evan Rago at the left point, who laced a wrist shot to the far-side top corner, to end the game.
“Great penalty kill at the end,” Rago said. “[Nick] Cafarelli got the puck back to me, I think it may have deflected off a defenseman but I’m just happy it found the back of the net.”
The goal was big, but it never would have happened with a stellar 4-on-3 penalty killing effort by Austin Prep.
“The penalty kill at the end of the game was terrific,” said Finocchiaro. “Cafarelli and [Louis] Finocchiaro both out there did a great job to put us in a position to win the game.”
The Cougars trailed 3-1 midway through the second, but cut into the lead on the power play when Alex Maffeo redirected a 60-foot wrist shot from Finocchiaro.
Austin Prep would even the score 4:26 later, as Richard Lyons broke across the blue line and dropped a pass back to J.J. Harding, who ripped a wrist shot into the far-side top corner, their third goal of the period.
“We didn’t get complacent,” said Rago. “We just kept doing the little things, pucks in deep, banging bodies. It finally paid off in overtime.”
While knotted at 1-1 early in the second frame, SJP saw junior Ryan Farrow notch his second of the game on the power play, before Justin Dalton netted some insurance to make it 3-1 Eagles.
Down 1-0 to open the second, Austin Prep evened the score as Rago threaded a wrister through a sea of bodies, past the glove of Eagles net minder Cam Ludwig (21 saves).
St. John’s Prep opened the scoring just 51 seconds into the game, when Kyle Hentosh collected a turnover and fed Farrow up the seem for a backhanded layup past net minder Dylan Regan (27 saves).
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