WORCESTER — After trailing most of the game, Alex Mitchell didn’t miss her chance to finish off the comeback in style.
Her goal with 30 seconds remaining gave the South All-Stars a 4-3 win over the North in the MSHCA High School Girls Hockey All-Star Classic at the DCU Center yesterday.
Hingham’s Tori Messina dished out a perfect pass to send Mitchell in all alone on Woburn’s Courtney Davis. The Franklin forward labeled a high shot past Davis.
“I got a really nice pass, and I just went off,” Mitchell said. “I saw the top right open and just went for it. The South hasn’t won (this game) too many times, so we wanted to go out there and get the win.”
Mitchell’s goal capped off a four-goal South eruption in the third period. Sandwich’s Maggie Layo notched two of the tallies and earned the Most Valuable Player award.
“We were down and needed to come back,” Layo said. “(Hingham) coach John Findley said a two-goal lead is the worst one to have. We knew we were going to come back and we brought it.”
Alex Scribner put the South up, 3-2, but the North answered seconds later as Emily Lissner scored on a breakaway to knot the score and set up Mitchell’s heroics.
Danielle Kelly and Megan Lawler also scored in the loss.
On the boys side, Marshfield’s David Cataldo scored twice and was named Most Valuable Player as the South All-Stars topped the North, 7-1.
“David had a great game and buried his shots,” Braintree and All-Star South coach David Fasano said.
“It’s difficult, too, because these kids have never played together.”
Duxbury’s Nicholas Marrocco and Braintree’s Nicholas Ward added first-period goals for the South as it built a 4-1 lead and the North could not recover despite peppering the South goalies with 43 shots.
Brookline’s Jake Paul (20 saves), Mario Pizzeri from St. John’s (Shrewsbury) (11) and Framingham’s Al Lynch (11) made sure a North comeback would not occur.
“They had 43 shots, so it was obviously some very good goaltending,” Fasano said.
“Usually these games are 9-7, so only allowing one goal is quite the accomplishment.”
Archbishop Williams’ Michael Sorenti and Xaverian’s Ricky Smith had second-period tallies for the South, while Dartmouth’s Joseph Correia lit the lamp in the third.
Wachusett’s Marc Happy scored the lone North goal.
