MIDDLEBURY, Vt. - Despite goals from Rosemarie Giarrusso (Royal Palm Beach, Fla.) and Tiffany Herron (Clinton Township, Mich.), the Saint Anselm College women's ice hockey team fell to #4 Middlebury College by a 4-2 margin Tuesday evening at Kenyon Arena. With the victory, the Panthers improve to 12-1-2 while remaining at 9-1-0 within the NESCAC. The Hawks' six-game winning streak was halted this evening as their overall record stands at 12-5-0 while remaining at 7-4-0 within ECAC Women's East play.
Middlebury's Lauren Greer scored three times in the contest, providing the majority of the Panthers offense in tonight's game. Hannah Bielawski scored her fifth goal of the season at 16:26 of the first period, placing Middlebury on the board first in the game following a Sami Tatu (Waterford, Mich.) interference penalty near the 15 minute mark.
Greer provided the remaining offense, scoring two goals to lift the Panthers to a 3-0 lead just after the midpoint of the third period. For the Hawks, Giarrusso converted her sixth goal of the season on a three-man rush up the ice late in the period, cutting into the deficit. Herron added her 12th goal of the year with only 1:35 remaining on the clock, placing the Hawks within one goal of knotting the game at three apiece.
To complete the hat trick, Greer answered just 36 seconds following Herron's dramatic strike. Skating end-to-end, forward Emily Fluke capped off her teammates hat trick by collecting the lone assist on her team's insurance goal.
Saint Anselm goaltender Amy Zappen (Huntington Beach, Calif.) posted her fifth loss of the season, turning aside 17-of-21 shots on goal. Middlebury netminder Becca Shaw (1-0-0) posted her first victory of the year, halting 14-of-16 shots on net while remaining undefeated in her four-year Panthers career (4-0-0).
The Hawks were 1-for-2 on the power play. The Panthers were 2-for-4 with the extra skater.
NOTABLES: Tonight's defeat at the hands of Middlebury College was the Hawks' first regulation loss dating back to Nov. 19, 2011 against nationally-ranked Norwich University…The prior two defeats for Saint Anselm have come against nationally-ranked opponents, according to the most recent USCHO.com Division III polls…Forward Rosemarie Giarrusso is in the midst of a 10-game point scoring streak, having recorded 13 points (4-9=13) during that span.
The Hawks return to action Friday, Jan. 27 as they continue their five-game road trip by traveling to Manhattanville College to partake in a 7:00 p.m. contest. Catch all of the action by following the Hawks on Facebook (http://www.facebook.com/STAHawks) and Twitter (http://www.twitter.com/STAHawks).
