MANCHESTER, N.H. – The Saint Anselm College women's ice hockey team fired a season-high 56 shots on net en route to a 4-1 victory over the Pioneers of Sacred Heart University in the opening round of the ECAC Women's Open Tournament Saturday afternoon at the Thomas F. Sullivan Arena. With the victory, the Hawks improve to 19-6-1 overall on the season and move on to the ECAC Open Championship game for the third-straight season. Sacred Heart dropped their 17th contest of the season to fall to 10-17-1 overall on the year.
With the victory, the Hawks move on to the ECAC Women's Open championship game for the seventh time in team history. Saint Anselm is 3-2-1 all-time in the championship game, tying the College of the Holy Cross in regulation and overtime, but falling in the decisive shootout by a 2-0 margin. With Holy Cross posting a 3-0 victory over Saint Michael's College earlier in the afternoon, the No. 2 ranked Hawks will face-off with the Crusaders Sunday, Feb. 26, to crown the 2012 ECAC Women's Open champion.
Forward Rosemarie Giarrusso (Royal Palm Beach, Fla.) became only the second player in program history to reach triple-digit point totals in her career by tallying her 52nd career goal, the game-winning goal, at 7:59 of the first period. A nifty drop pass by forward Courtney Winters (Swampscott, Mass.) caught the blade of Giarrusso, who skated toward net and fired a shot past Pioneers goaltender Alexius Schutt for the goal.
Defenseman Molly Corl (Georgetown, Mass.) opened the scoring on the afternoon with her sixth goal of the season at 6:42 of the first period, placing Saint Anselm ahead by a 1-0 margin. Clearing the defensive zone, Corl collected an outlet pass by defensive partner Sami Tatu (Waterford, Mich.) and skated up ice. Entering the zone, Corl put a simple wrist shot on net from the top of the left face-off circle that beat Schutt for the game's first goal.
Forward Kathryn Picarello (West Roxbury, Mass.) notched her eighth goal of the season, putting the Hawks out in front by a 3-0 margin at 10:03 of the first period. A powerful blast by Giarrusso within the left face-off circle was knocked down in the goal crease by Schutt. Collecting the rebound, Picarello skated toward the right post and forced the puck past the up-ended Schutt for the strike. Defenseman Jacqueline Bouchie (Belmont, Mass.) also collected an assist on the play.
Tatu added a goal of her own at 8:03 of the third period, scoring on the power play to extend the Hawks lead to 4-0. With defenseman Meaghan Souza in the box for cross-checking, the Hawks were firmly entrenched in the offensive zone on the power play. Following an extended puck cycle from below the goal line, Tatu skated around the right face-off circle with the puck before placing a wrist shot on goal that eluded the grasp of Schutt for the goal.
Defenseman Nicole Palazzo converted a breakaway opportunity at 13:06 of the third period to place Sacred Heart on the scoreboard late in the contest. Deking a Hawks defender at neutral ice, Palazzo skated in on Hawks goaltender Amy Zappen (Huntington Beach, Calif.) unopposed and roofed a shot for her 16th goal of the season.
Zappen (16-6-1) posted her 16th victory of the season, turning aside 15-of-16 shots on goal. Despite turning aside 52 shots on goal in net for the Pioneers, Schutt (9-14-1) collected her 14th loss of the season.
Saint Anselm was 1-for-5 on the power play. Sacred Heart was 0-for-4 with the extra skater.
NOTABLES: After concluding the afternoon with a goal and an assist, forward Rosemarie Giarrusso becomes only the second player in program history to record over 100 points in her career, scoring 52 goals and 49 assists for 101 points (52-49=101)…Giarrusso also scored her ninth career game-winning goal, placing fourth all-time in program history in that category...In her last eight games, Hawks goaltender Amy Zappen has accumulated a 7-0-1 record alongside a .50 goals-against average and a .967 save percentage…In total, Zappen has only allowed four goals dating back to Saturday, Jan. 28 against Nichols College…Forward Courtney Winters has recorded four goals and three assists for seven points (4-3=7) in her last four games dating back to Feb. 11 against UMass Boston…Defenseman Angela Zevnik (Greenfield, Wisc.) made her 100th career appearance in a Saint Anselm uniform this afternoon.
No. 2 Saint Anselm will face-off against No. 1 Holy Cross tomorrow afternoon in the decisive round of the 2012 ECAC Open Championship at 4:00 p.m. at the Thomas F. Sullivan Arena. Be sure to follow the latest news regarding this year's ECAC Open Tournament by following the Hawks on Facebook (http://www.facebook.com/STAHawks) and Twitter (http://www.twitter.com/STAHawks).
