AC, MC Hockey Advance in Tournament

– Allison Goldsberry

Local athletes skating for the Arlington Catholic and Malden Catholic hockey teams are continuing to advance in the post-season.

The AC Lady Cougar hockey team, 16-3-1 and seeded fourth out of twenty-seven teams heading into the Division 1 state tournament, knocked off a 3-2 overtime win against Braintree to advance to the finals. The Lady Cougars will meet St. Mary’s of Lynn (#3, 18-3-1) at the TD Garden on Sunday, March 18. St. Mary’s also includes some Medford talent, junior Kaleigh Finigan and sophomore Brittani Lanzilli.

The Malden Catholic hockey team is the reigning Super Eight champ after compiling an impressive 21-2-2 record last season. MC, 15-1-4 this season heading into the tournament, is the top seed. MC defeated St. John’s of Shrewsbury and BC High before trouncing Hingham, the only public school in the Super Eight, 7-2 on Sunday afternoon.

MC and BC High advance to the “crossover” games taking place March 14 at 5:45PM and 8:15PM at Merrimack College. MC will face Central Catholic while rivals St. John’s Prep and BC High will play.

The Super 8 championship game is taking place on March 18 at the TD Garden.

In other state tournament news, the defending state champion Lady Cougar basketball team lost a 49-46 heart-breaker to Reading on Saturday.