RUTLAND, Vt. – Despite goals by defenseman Molly Corl (Georgetown, Mass.) and forward Rosemarie Giarrusso (Royal Palm Beach, Fla.), the Saint Anselm College women's ice hockey team dropped a 3-2 overtime decision to the Spartans of Castleton State College Saturday afternoon at Spartan Arena. With the victory, Castleton State evens their overall record at 4-4-0 on the season while the Hawks fall to 6-4-0 overall on the season. The Spartans ECAC Women's East record improves to 4-2-0 while Saint Anselm's record drops to 4-4-0 in conference play.
Only 22 seconds into the sudden victory overtime period, Jade Werger scored her fourth goal of the season, unassisted, on a partial breakaway on Hawks goaltender Amy Zappen (Huntington Beach, Calif.). The overtime loss was only the third in program history for Saint Anselm and Werger's goal was the fastest such strike against the Hawks in the team's eight years of existence.
Following a first period which saw no penalties or goals, Nicole Ruman opened the scoring in the contest with a goal 54 seconds into the middle stanza to lift Castleton State to a 1-0 lead. On the power play, Corl would strike for her third goal of the season at 11:22 of the second period, knotting the score at one apiece. Kathryn Picarello (West Roxbury, Mass.) and Aly Zappen (Huntington Beach, Calif.) earned assists on the Hawks first goal of the game. Meagan Hulbert rounded out the scoring in the first period, striking with 2:03 remaining on the clock.
Giarrusso's third goal of the season came at 14:59 of the third period, tying the game at two apiece. A turnover by a Spartans defender was collected by Giarrusso and forced home for her 41st career goal in a Saint Anselm uniform. Both teams would exit regulation play deadlocked with two goals apiece.
Zappen (6-4-0) drew her fourth loss of the season, halting 19-of-22 shots on goal by the Spartans. Katharyn Dembowski (4-4-0) evens her record with her fourth victory of the season, turning aside 38-of-40 shots on net in 60:22 of action.
Saint Anselm was 1-for-4 on the power play. Castleton State was 0-for-1 with the extra skater.
NOTABLES: This afternoon's loss in overtime was only the third such defeat in program history…Werger's overtime strike was the fastest overtime game-winner scored against the Hawks in program history...Prior to this afternoon's game, the Hawks had never lost to Castleton in 12 prior games dating back to the 2004-05 season…Rosemarie Giarrusso scored her 41st career goal this afternoon.
The Hawks return to action Friday, Jan. 6 as they face-off against non-conference foe St. Scholastica in a 4:00 p.m. contest at Thomas F. Sullivan Arena. Stay up-to-date with the latest news, including game previews and recaps, directly from the Saint Anselm College athletic department by friending us on Facebook (http://www.facebook.com/STAHawks) and following us on Twitter (http://www.twitter.com/STAHawks).
