Worcester, Mass. (February 28)-The Saint Anselm College women's ice hockey team fell to the Pioneers of Sacred Heart 6-3 in the first round of the ECAC Open Tournament hosted by the College of the Holy Cross at the Hart Center. The loss drops the Hawks to 15-9-2 on the season, while the win improves the Pioneers to 13-15-2 on the campaign.

The Hawks sped right out of the gate when junior defenseman Maria Dougherty (Middletown, R.I.) notched her third goal of the season at the 1:27 mark in the first period by beating Sacred Heart netminder Amanda Nagel (Greenwood, Minn.). Assisting on the tally was forward Bianca DeSantis (Georgetown, Mass.) and defenseman Daniella Lyons (Greene, Maine). After ten minutes of back and forth action, the Pioneers would grab the equalizer off a turnover in the Hawk zone when senior forward Gina Arnone (Bridgewater, N.J.) would beat freshman goalie Amy Zappen (Huntington Beach, Calif.) top shelf to tie the game at one.

In the second period the Pioneers took the lead for the first time of the game with over 15 and a half minutes left when senior forward Whitney Dziama (Walpole, Mass.) redirected a shot by Brittany Hartman (Prior Lake, Minn.) for the 2-1 lead. The Hawks would answer back on a goal from DeSantis less than three minutes later. Hawk freshman Aly Zappen (Huntington Beach, Calif.) caused a turnover in the Sacred Heart zone and found the cutting DeSantis for the equalizer. Saint Anselm would not celebrate for long as Sacred Heart would take the lead right back less than a minute later on a slap-shot from Arnone to beat Zappen top shelf once again to put the Saint Anselm down 3-2 heading into the third period.

The third and final period saw the Hawks give up two more goals in the first ten minutes. The Hawks would fight back at the 13:39 mark, freshman Cierra Romaldo (Chuluota, Florida) would net her third power-play goal of the season off helpers from Aly Zappen and Dougherty to cut the lead to 5-3. But Sacred Heart forward Gina Arnone would net her third goal of the game for the hat-trick and the 6-3 final.

Amy Zappen finished the game with 23 saves in the loss, while Nagel stopped 20 shots in the victory.

The Hawks will play in their season finale, tomorrow, at 1 p.m. in the consolation game against the loser of Saint Michael's and Holy Cross at the Hart Center.