Manchester, N.H. (February 15) -- Led by a hat trick from junior forward Kelsey Johnson (Byfield, Mass.), the Saint Anselm women's hockey team defeated Southern Maine by a 5-1 final on Friday night at Sullivan Arena.

The Hawks opened the scoring at the 8:39 mark of the first period as Arianna Rigano (Malden, Mass.) scored a point in her seventh straight game with an unassisted goal. Just 4:18 later, Rigano made the score 2-0 on the power play with her 18th goal of the season, assisted by Alexa Hingston (Charlestown, Mass.) and Kasey Cedorchuk (Charlestown, Mass.). Johnson made it a 3-0 lead heading into the first intermission on her 17th goal of the 2007-2008 season with just 35 seconds left in the opening stanza.

Johnson tied Rigano for the team scoring lead at the 13:08 mark of the second period, assisted by Hingston and junior standout Kathleen Twomey (Londonderry, N.H.) for the lone score of the period.

Southern Maine got on the board just 3:15 into the third period as Jessica Knight (Alfred, Maine) notched her ninth goal of the season, assisted by Megan Irving (Cumberland, Maine), to cut the lead to 4-1. With just 4:43 left in the game, Johnson made it a hat trick and a 5-1 lead on a goal assisted on by Hingston and Cedorchuk.

Senior Andrea Berlin (Durham, N.H.) made nine saves to improve to 11-1-0 on the season, while Emily Barrett (Westport, Mass.) turned aside 29 shots in the loss.

With the win, the Hawks are now 20-1-0 and have four straight 20-win seasons to their credit. The team also remains perfect in the ECAC East at 16-0-0 in league play. Southern Maine saw its two-game winning streak come to an end to fall to 6-15-1 overall and 6-9-1 in ECAC East action.

Saint Anselm is back in action on Saturday afternoon as the Hawks host New England College at 3 p.m. The game is the final regular-season appearance for the 2008 Senior Class, as the entire senior class will be recognized prior to the start of the game.