They may be the youngest program on the winter sports scene at DHS, but right now the girls’ hockey team is carrying the torch by being the last team with any possibility of making some noise in post-season play

As the #1 seed in the Division II State tournament, much is expected of the Lady Dragons, who came into the tournament at 16-3-1 and showed just how effective they can be when they cruised to a 6-1 opening-round win over Marshfield on Friday afternoon at The Bog.

The victory sets up a second-round confrontation with Bay State League entry Dedham HS on Wednesday night at 8 p.m. at The Bog. The Marauders come in as the #9-seed with a 13-7-1 record after their opening-round 1-0 shutout win over Medfield.

Having beaten the Rams twice during the regular season, there is always the fear of taking on an opponent for the third time. In this case the Lady Dragons had every right to be leery after the Rams wasted little time in taking a 1-0 lead just 22 seconds into the game.

Towering Marshfield sophomore Katie Conlon pushed the puck past the Duxbury defense and picked it up on the left, blistering a shot past Julia Hannon high to the stick side and sending the Marshfield crowd into a frenzy.

The goal got the Lady Dragons’ attention, as Molly O’Sullivan got it back three minutes later when she was stationed to the right of Ram goaltender Vicky Langrill and fired a shot that found its way through her legs to tie the game at 1-1.

Hannon kept the game tied when she stopped freshman Emily Matthews on a partial break-in with 9:41 on the clock, and four minutes later the Lady Dragons went ahead for good when their first line of Briana Connolly, Meg Muncey, and Kaitlin Sullivan combined for a Connolly goal and a 2-1 lead at the end of the first period.

The Rams opened the second period on the power-play and tested Hannon twice, but they were stonewalled by the junior netminder.

At the 12:50 mark Duxbury’s depth showed, as freshman Colleen Leddie came out from behind the net and slid her shot under Langrill for a 3-1 lead with an assist going to classmate Mary Margaret Donovan.

The Lady Dragons now had the Rams on the ropes, and continued to pressure the Marshfield defense with its talented first line. However, freshman defender Martha Findlay was whistled for a penalty putting her team a man-down.

What could have put the Rams back in the game backfired, as Muncey picked up a loose puck at center ice and turned the Ram defense, pulling Langrill out of the net and depositing her shot behind the fallen goaltender for a 4-1 lead with 9:10 left in the second period.

The Rams would have a great chance to get back in the game with 1:44 to go, only to have captain Kristen McColgan stuffed by Hannon as she crashed into the goal post.

Hannon would stop another Marshfield break-in in the opening minute of the third period to demoralize the visitors and keep her teammates fired up, especially the line of O’Sullivan, Meghan Johnson, and senior captain Anie Grunwald, who pressured the Rams with a flurry of activity midway through the period.

Donovan and Connolly would score goals in the final five minutes to end the afternoon’s scoring.

“I told the girls all year long that what they do during the regular season will go a long way toward what happens in the play-offs because you earn a high seed and home advantage,” said Duxbury Coach Friend Weiler. “We came out here tonight and wanted to give Marshfield a different look because we had played them twice already. They capitalized on it early, but we stayed with it and overcame that setback once they realized they were playing play-off hockey, and it’s attribute to them they were able to turn it around so quickly.”