ROCKLAND – If there were any concerns for Notre Dame Academy of Hingham, the two-time reigning Division 2 state champions, coming into this season it centered around its offense.
With Katherine Pyne transferring to Noble & Greenough after a 40-goal freshman campaign, the Cougars were left without an elite scorer.
But junior forward Alexa Graziano has alleviated those concerns with her tremendous offensive play.
Graziano scored two goals and added an assist to lead NDA to a dominating performance and a 4-0 nonleague win over Boston Latin Thursday at Rockland Ice Rink.
“She plays a simple, straight ahead game,” said NDA coach Chris Marshall. “She’s got two linemates that support the puck really well, so they get their chances. I thinks she realizes that she’s got to take on more of a goal-scorer’s role this year and she’s certainly stepped up so far.”
NDA (6-2) put the pressure on Latin (4-2-3) from the opening whistle by creating several scoring chances.
The Cougars scored just 3:34 into the contest when Graziano made a perfect pass to Kelly Morrissey, who was wide open in front of the net and beat Ellen Linso (18 saves) for a 1-0 lead.
“We work well as a team with good passes,” Graziano said. “We just kept going with rebounds and just keep trying to crash the net.”
After not extending the lead in the first period despite many opportunities, Graziano put NDA in complete control in the second period.
Graziano started by scoring a goal with 10:26 left in the stanza when she took a puck from the corner and darted past two Latin defenders before flipping a shot into the back of the net.
Just over a minute later, Graziano displayed another sensational individual effort with the Cougars shorthanded. She blocked a shot at the top of the defensive zone and took off with the puck, beating two defenders and putting home a breakaway tally for a 3-0 lead.
Even with a three-goal lead, NDA remained the aggressor and scored its second shorthanded goal when Caelan Stewart muscled her way through Latin’s defense along the boards and then picked a corner just nine seconds into the third period.
“It’s unbelievable. You never expect that to happen,” said Marshall of the shorthanded goals. “With such great players out there, they’re creating offense from defense. They’re a threat whether we’re five-on-five or shorthanded. They’re such smart players that I think they take advantage of every opportunity that they get.”
While the offense gave NDA a boost, its defense stayed rock steady to record its third shutout in four games.
Erin Murray (17 saves) faced only six shots through the first two periods as NDA’s defense continues to be the backbone to its winning ways.
“I thought it was a great effort all the way around,” Marshall said. “Our ‘D’ stepped up and really didn’t let them penetrate the blue line and we kept them down to a low number of shots which is great.”
