With less than a minute left in overtime of Andover’s Division 2 girls’ hockey quarterfinal against Sandwich, Golden Warriors co-captain Rose MacLean found herself down on the ice against the boards.
It wasn’t where she wanted to be, but she wasn’t going to let it deter her.
“When I got tied up into the net and went into the boards head first, I got fired up,” said MacLean. “I had to come back. We always talk about mental toughness as a team, and I had to have the grit to get back on the ice and play those 47 seconds out.”
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She did more than that.. With seven seconds remaining, her two-on-one breakaway with Eliza O’Sullivan resulted in the game-winner, giving third-seeded Andover a 3-2 victory over the No. 6 Blue Knights at Breakaway Ice Center in Tewksbury.
The Warriors (17-3-2) will face No. 2 seed Duxbury, a 4-2 winner over Malden Catholic, in the semfinals.
It was all Sandwich (15-7-2) early in the game. They played well in the neutral zone and controlled play with persistent pressure in the Andover zone.
Eight minutes in, Olivia O’Brien played the puck off the boards and fed it to Khloe Schultz, whose shot was tipped in by Emma MacPherson. Andover went 0-for-2 on the power play in the frame, largely due to Blue Knights goalie Sophia Visceglio, who recorded 11 first-period saves out of 31 overall.
The Blue Knights opened a two-goal lead off Darby Rounseville’s power-play tally 3:49 into the second. But Andover answered with a Grace Johnson goal three minutes later.
Facing a 2-1 deficit headed into the third period, Golden Warriors coach Meagan Keefe reminded her team of how it had come from behind before.
“We have played tough teams this whole season,” Keefe said, “and we’ve done it before, so why can’t we do it again?”
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When Sandwich began to show fatigue in the third, Andover took advantage, peppering Visceglio. Nearly four minutes into the period, MacLean scored her first goal of the game to tie it, 2-2.
The teams went back and forth for the remainder of regulation, but two key blocks by Johnson and Casey Michael with 1:15 remaining stymied a pair of Sandwich scoring chances.
In overtime, Golden Warriors goalie Allie Batchelder made eight of her 21 saves. After MacLean was hit at the boards, she knew she had to respond.
After a Sandwich player was hit at mid-ice, O’Sullivan and MacLean sped up ice for the winner, sending Andover to the semis.
Division 1 State
Billerica/Chelmsford 3, Winthrop 2 — The 13th-seeded B/C co-op (11-11-1) handed No. 5 Winthrop (20-1) its first loss of the season behind tallies from senior captain Remore Serra (2 goals) and junior Kate Harrison (1 goal) at the Paul Cronin MDC Rink in Revere. As the team heads into a battle against top-seeded St. Mary’s in the semifinals round, coach Ray Monroe is more focused than ever. “[Taking a] day off probably won’t do us well,” Monroe said. “We’ll need to take as much time as we have to prepare and be ready to play it out.”
Shrewsbury 3, Hingham 2 — After regulation lapsed into a grueling overtime period, Maddie Mrva sent the third-seeded Colonials (17-2-2) to the semifinals with a winner in double overtime, her second goal of the game.
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Down 1-0 after the first period, senior Taylor Ryder put the Colonials on the board halfway through the second period. Mrva tallied late in the third to tie it up, 2-2.
With Shrewsbury headed to the semis for the second consecutive year, head coach Frank Panarelli wanted to maintain a sense of normalcy for his team.
“We will be practicing tomorrow — it’ll be a normal practice. We’re going to go through our normal routine,” Panarelli said. “We’ve got another game in front of us now, and we just need to worry about the next one.”
Notre Dame (Hingham) 5, Bishop Feehan 3 — Sophomore Sarah White tallied a hat trick for the second-seeded Cougars (15-6-0), securing the quarterfinals victory. The Cougars will face the winner of No. 3 Shrewsbury (18-2-2) and No. 6 Hingham (16-5-2) in the semifinals.
St. Mary’s 2, Peabody 0 — After two first-period goals from seniors Tia Picardi and Jenna Chaplain, the top-seeded Spartans (22-1-0) held their lead the rest of the way, earning a spot in the state semifinals, where they will face No. 13 Billerica/Chelmsford.
Division 2 State
Duxbury 4, Malden Catholic 2 — A year after falling in the Division 2 quarterfinals on its home ice, the No. 2 Dragons (22-1-2) advanced to the semifinals by outlasting the No. 10 Lancers (11-10-2) in a game that featured two ties and three lead changes at The Bog in Kingston.
“It’s just a sigh of relief,” said Duxbury sophomore Maeve Gallagher. “We made it this far, let’s just go all the way.”
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The Dragons will face No. 3 Andover in the semifinals.
After a scoreless first period, sophomore Maddie Greenwood gave Duxbury a 1-0 edge two minutes into the second. Malden Catholic junior Bella Gillis (Somerville) delivered with 27.3 left to tie the score, 1-1, through two.
Gallagher put the Dragons back in front with 7:51 remaining, Malden Catholic junior Antonia DiZoglio (Wilmington) tied it, 2-2, with 3:35 left, then senior captain McKenna Colella potted the winner with 2:28 to go.
Megan Carney added an empty-netter, and that was that, as the Dragons made the state semifinals for the first time under coach Dan Najarian.
“What you saw tonight was a team that faced some adversity,” said Najarian, who loved how his team responded after Malden Catholic tied it twice. “My team went into another gear and was able to pull it out.”
Archbishop Williams 3, Burlington 0 — Behind two goals and an assist from sophomore Caroline Batchelder, the top-ranked Bishops (17-3-1) flew into the semifinals, where they will face the winner of No. 4 Canton and No. 5 Algonquin. Senior Maggie Lynch secured the win with a goal in the final period.
Kat Cornetta reported from Tewksbury, Trevor Hass from Kingston. Globe correspondents Khalin Kapoor and Julia Yohe contributed to this report.
Kat Cornetta can be reached at sportsgirlkat@gmail.com.