CANTON, Mass. — Hard-nosed and stingy defense was the recipe for success for Xaverian as the Hawks took down Marshfield, 2-0, to win the Pat Serio Cup.
Xaverian advanced to Wednesday night’s final by defeating St. John’s Shrewsbury, 7-1, in the semifinal a day earlier. The two wins at the post-Christmas tournament helped Xaverian improve to 5-0 on the season. The Hawks have outscored their opponents by a score of 21-4 on the young season.
It was my first time seeing Dave Spinale’s team since I watched them win the Catholic Conference at the end of last season. Xaverian doesn’t have the high-end talent that Arlington does, but the Hawks will be very hard to beat in the new single-elimination tournament. The team’s experience, depth, size, and physicality will be tough to match up against for many opponents across the state.
Seniors Kevin Parish and Brock Casey each scored somewhat flukey goals en route to Wednesday night’s victory. Classmate Kevin Richardi was solid in net, posting the shutout. The game was preceded by the consolation game between St. John’s Shrewsbury and Framingham. In that contest, the Pioneers outlasted the Flyers by a score of 2-1. Trevor Potenti and Luke Gerardi scored the goals for St. John’s Shrewsbury while Noah Albright had the lone tally for Framingham.
Below is a synopsis of the four teams plus notable prospects from the two games watched on Wednesday:
