GORHAM, Maine – The Saint Anselm College women's hockey team scored three power-play goals and killed all five short-handed situations to skate past the University of Southern Maine Huskies, 4-1, in an ECAC Women's East hockey matchup at USM Ice Arena on Friday night.

With the victory, the Hawks jump to 11-3-2 overall and 7-1-2 in conference play, while the Huskies drop to 4-7-3 and 3-4-2 in the conference.

Junior Courtney Winters (Swampscott, Mass.) led the Hawks with two goals in a 57-second span in the third period — the first being Saint Anselm's third power play goal — to provide insurance on the 2-1 lead with 8:28 remaining in the game.

After a scoreless first period, Southern Maine's Kailey Bubier took a pass from the right corner and slipped the puck past Hawks sophomore goaltender Janice Michaud (Westwood, Mass.), putting the Huskies up 1-0 just 1:11 into the second period. Julia Pearl and Bridget O'Brien were each credited with assists on the play.

After a Southern Maine penalty eight minutes into the second frame, Saint Anselm senior Kathryn Picarello (West Roxbury, Mass.) took passes from senior Rosemarie Giarrusso (Royal Palm Beach, Fla.) and sophomore Tiffany Herron (Clifton Township, Mich.) on the left side and netted the Hawks first power-play goal at 8:32, to gain the equalizer.

The Hawks took advantage of another USM penalty when Herron fired a shot from just inside the blue line that Giarrusso tipped past Husky netminder Liz Bergstrom, breaking the 1-1 tie 3:34 into the final period. Junior Jacqueline Bouchie (Belmont, Mass.) was also credited with an assist.

Winters netted her first power-play goal by deflecting a shot from Bouchie past Bergstrom to put Saint Anselm up 3-1 with 9:25 remaining. Picarello was attributed with an assist on the play.

Less than a minute later, Winters received passes from Herron and Bouchie and scored her second goal of the game, increasing the Hawks' lead to 4-1 at the 11:32 mark.

Michaud earned the win, making 14 saves on USM's 15 shots on goal. Bergstrom stopped 27 of 31 shots.

The Hawks return to action Saturday, Jan. 19 at 2 p.m. when they travel to Plymouth State. Stay up-to-date with the latest news, including game previews and recaps, directly from the Saint Anselm College athletic department by liking us on Facebook (http://www.facebook.com/STAHawks) and following us on Twitter (http://www.twitter.com/STAHawks).