WORCESTER, MASS. - The Saint Anselm women's ice hockey team travelled to Worcester, Mass., this afternoon to participate in the ECAC Open Tournament held at the College of the Holy Cross.  The Hawks, who earned the second seed in the tournament, took on the third-seeded Sacred Heart University Pioneers in the first round.  In a high-scoring, heated clash, the Hawks outlasted Sacred Heart in overtime, downing the Pioneers 7-6 after 61 minutes of play.  The win lifts the Hawks to 15-10-1 (12-6-1 ECAC East), while the Pioneers fall to 7-17-1. 

The Hawks got out of the gate quickly, as Kristen Byrne (Duxbury, Mass.) scored a wraparound goal from behind the net off a rebound from Sarah Ellins (Greeley, Colo.) just 1:56 into the first period.  Less than three minutes later, senior co-captain Maria Dougherty (Middletown, R.I.) slapped the puck into the net from right in front of the goal to put the Hawks up 2-0 before the five-minute mark.  The goal was assisted by Byrne and Michelle Lacombe (Delafield, Wisc.).  At 9:18, Kristen Byrne laced a hard slap shot towards the net. Goaltender Raelene Sydor saved the shot, but the puck came free.  Sarah Ellins won the scramble in front of the net and Molly Corl (Danvers, Mass.) finished effort, netting the Hawks' third goal of the game.

Overlapping Hawk penalties in the 12th minute of the period gave the Pioneers a 5-on-3 advantage for a full minute.  Pioneer forward Tara Kent laced an open slap shot past Amy Zappen (Hungtington Beach, Calif.) but it just hit the inside of the post and bounced out, saving the Hawks a goal.  However, a third Hawk penalty at 17:28 in the period gave the Pioneers another power-play opportunity, and this time they were more fortunate.  At 18:10, Nicole Palazzo laced in a slap shot from near the blue line to put the Pioneers on the board.  A minute and a half later, with 19 seconds remaining in the first period, Lauren Fontaine forced the puck past Zappen to bring the Pioneers within one heading into the first intermission.

The Hawks held onto their lead through the first half of the second period, but at 7:52, Brittany Hartman passed the puck towards the net from the blue line.  Kate Dunlop was waiting by the goal, as she banked the puck under the outstretched body of Zappen to tie the game at three apiece.  The power-play goal was also assisted by Lauren Fontaine.

Five minutes later, Rosemarie Giarrusso (Royal Palm Beach, Fla.) had a breakaway shot which got past goaltender Sydor, but just barely hit the post and came back out.  Sydor was able to cover the puck in front of the net just before Giarrusso could knock in the rebound.  At 18:41 in the second, Kathryn Picarello (West Roxbury, Mass.) passed the puck up to Kristen Byrne from center ice, who went on her own breakaway drive.  Byrne laced the puck to the right of Sydor who got a piece of it, but was unable to get in front of it, as the puck bounced into the net and gave the Hawks back their lead, 4-3.  Fifteen seconds later, Byrne almost did it again, slapping a hard shot towards the net on another breakaway drive, but Sydor dove and just got her glove on it to prevent Byrne from scoring a hat trick.

At 1:50 in the third period, Rosemarie Giarrusso converted a pass from Maria Dougherty out to the right, giving the Hawks some breathing room with a 5-3 lead.  However, at the five minute mark, Lauren Fontaine started a breakaway drive down the entire length of the ice.  Her original shot was saved, but she soon got the puck out by the blue line, and slapped it past Zappen to cut the Hawks' lead back down to one.

Five minutes later, at 10:16, Aly Zappen (Huntington Beach, Calif.) had a similar breakaway down the length of the ice; she faked out goaltender Sydor and netted the Hawks' sixth goal of the game, regaining the Hawks' two-goal lead.

At 13:32 in the third, Caitlin Gottwald netted a slap shot from the blue line, assisted by Kate Dunlop to bring the Pioneers back within one.  Just over a minute later at 14:53, Lauren Fontaine flipped in her team-leading 22nd goal of the season, completing a hat trick and tying the game at six goals apiece with just over five minutes to go in regulation.

The final five minutes of regulation were heated and full of several close calls, but after a full hour of play, the game remained tied 6-6, so the game went into overtime. 

Just 52 seconds into the first overtime period, freshman Kaitlin O'Brien (South Boston, Mass.) knocked in the game-winning goal to put the Hawks up 7-6 and send them to the ECAC Open Championship.

Hawk goaltender Amy Zappen made 22 saves in her career-high ninth win, and Raelene Sydor turned aside 29 shots in the overtime loss.  The Hawks return to action tomorrow evening at 4:00 pm, when they take on the first-seeded College of the Holy Cross Crusaders in the ECAC Open Championship game.  The Crusaders defeated the Saint Michael's Purple Knights 5-2 earlier today, so the Purple Knights will play the Pioneers tomorrow at 1:00 pm in a battle for third place.