The Johnston Panthers fell to the East Providence Townies 9-5 on Thursday evening in the Division III quarterfinal. Angela Leonardo led EP with five goals while Arianna Calouro scored two goals and two assists.
Leonardo won the opening faceoff for East Providence. She passed to Calouro who assisted back to Leonardo. Then, Leonardo put it past Johnston junior goaltender Jacsmile Cassion to give East Providence a 1-0 lead seconds into the game.
After Grace Sarah won the faceoff for Johnston, she dished to Gabriella DiRaimo, who cradled before missing the net. Then, Johnston captain Maia Antonucci passed to Sarah, but Johnston couldn’t get off a clean shot against EP’s stingy defense.
Later in the first half, Calouro charged from behind the net and scored in front with a backhand to increase the EP lead to 2-0.
Soon after, Johnston junior defenseman Samantha Hardman attacked from behind the net, but once again the tough defense of EP kept her from getting off a clean shot.
Next, Cassion stopped a shot from EP’s Sydney Vilardi. Soon after, Johnston got on the board when Hardman brought the rock into the EP zone before dishing to Jocelyn Cabral, who put Johnston on the board, making it 2-1. Next, Johnston’s Kaylee Lameiro stole it and passed to Sarah, but her shot was stopped by EP goaltender Kelsey Ferreira.
Later in the first, Leonardo scored her second goal of the game on passes from Bailey Ricci and Vilardi, putting EP up 3-1. A minute later, DiRaimo put it past the EP goaltender, pulling Johnston within 3-2. After a timeout, Johnston’s Sarah evened the score at 3.
With less than eight minutes to play in the first half, Cassion stopped a backhand from Vilardi. Shortly after, Calouro would score off a rebound, putting EP up 4-3. East Providence scored two more goals in the first half. The lamplighters came from Savannah Figueiredo and Leonardo. It was Leonardo’s third goal of the contest, which she scored when she went coast to coast out of the faceoff.
Thirty seconds into the second half, Leonardo scored and put EP up 7-3. With 20:48 left, Dakotah Federowicz assisted to Devon Federowicz, who put it past Cassion and put EP on top 8-3.
A minute later, Cassion stopped a shot from Dakotah Federowicz before EP turned it over. With 16:20 to play, Johnston’s Gabriella Sauro assisted to Sarah, who shot past Ferreira and pulled Johnston within 8-4.
With 13:28 to play, Johnston’s DiRaimo passed to Lameiro, whose shot was denied by Ferreira. Next, DiRaimo took a shot, but she too was stonewalled by Ferreira.
Sarah had a couple shots on net for Johnston, but the first went wide and the second came up short. EP took back possession, but not for long. Cabral stole the ball for Johnston and dished to Grace Muller, who assisted to Diraimo, however, her shot was stopped by Ferreira.
EP went back on the attack, but the Johnston defense was stout and Cassion was able to stop a shot by Calouro.
With 2:47 remaining in the contest, Leonardo came up with a steal and she bolted down and scored, increasing the EP lead to 9-4.
Though Johnston was down, it never gave up. Just before the buzzer, Jenna Pizzi charged the net and put one past Ferreira to give Johnston a goal, making the final score 9-5.
Johnston head coach Jay Areson said despite the loss he was happy with the season his team put together.
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