HINGHAM – Andover coach Kevin Drew tells his team if it scores three goals, it won’t lose many games.
But Tuesday afternoon, the Golden Warriors didn’t need to reach the three-goal plateau due to the play of junior goalie Sean D’Urso.
D’Urso stopped 18 shots against Duxbury in the opening round of the Hingham Hockey Showcase and then took her play to another level when the game went to a shootout, stopping all five of the Dragons’ attempts to help Andover to a 2-1 victory at Pilgrim Skating Arena.
“She’s our backbone,” Drew said. “If it’s not for her, we’re not where we are. She’s got one-point-something goals against this year. She’s an unbelievable goaltender. We’re going to depend on her in the playoffs.”
For MIAA purposes, the game went into the record book as a 1-1 tie, but that didn’t stop the two teams from skipping overtime and heading right into a shootout.
Andover (9-5-5) called upon freshman Lily Shannon to begin the shootout and she put the Golden Warriors in the driver’s seat with a goal.
Andover missed the rest of its attempts, but it didn’t prove costly. D’Urso came up clutch, stonewalling each Duxbury (15-3-2) shooter.
“I just didn’t want to let my team down,” D’Urso said. “I wanted them to score and I wanted to save all the shots. You got to watch their sticks and you can kind of see what side they go to, you follow them and make the save.”
D’Urso almost entered standing-on-her-head territory in the second period by making several terrific stops, but late in the frame, the Dragons put one past her.
D’Urso redirected Jackie Hayden’s pass from behind the net and it went right to Emily Ballerene, who buried her chance from the slot to level the score, 1-1, with 23 seconds left in the second period.
“In the second and third periods, our shifts got quicker,” said Duxbury coach Paul Reissfelder. “The girls stepped up and played a lot better. They moved the puck better. There’s good chemistry on that line. Jackie knew what she was doing and they’re playing well for us.”
Andover started fast thanks to Shannon as she put home her shot off an assist from Callie Wiley just 1:23 into the contest for the initial 1-0 lead.
The Golden Warriors couldn’t build their lead after that as Sue Bird (14 saves) was strong in net for Duxbury.
But now with five ties and three other contests decided by one goal, heading to a shootout was good practice for Andover with the postseason looming.
“We practiced (shootouts) the last couple days because I know what the tournament is about and we practiced four-on-fours,” Drew said. “Obviously, the girls got a feel (for it) now. We’re in one-goal games all year, so we know one of those tournament games is going to come down to a shootout.”
