BRIDGEPORT, Conn. – Franny Nicholson (Saint Paul, Minn.) scored 2:23 into overtime to send the Saint Anselm College women's ice hockey team to a 4-3 victory against the College of the Holy Cross in the championship game of the ECAC Open Tournament on Sunday at Sacred Heart University's Wonderland of Ice.
The Hawks, who capture their second straight ECAC Open Championship and first consecutive titles since the 2006-07 and 2007-08 campaigns, wrap up their season at 19-4-4 overall. The Crusaders, who lost to the Hawks in the title game last year and were 1-0-1 in the regular season against Saint Anselm this season, finish at 16-6-5.
Michelle Conway (Medford, Mass.) led the way with three points on a goal and two assists. Her five points in the tournament were one more than she tallied in her previous 24 regular-season games this year.
Nicholson picked a fine time for just her second goal of the year and first game winner as she batted the puck in past Holy Cross goalie Alexandra Stevenson after a scrum in front of the net. Sarah Geisinger (Willoughby, Ohio) and Rosemarie Giarrusso (Royal Palm Beach, Fla.) were credited with assists on the play.
Saint Anselm was outshot, 29-28, but fired the only two shots of the extra session. Goaltender Lindsey Brown (Mounds View, Minn.) stopped 26 of the 29 shots she faced, while Stevenson made 24 saves.
The Hawks jumped on the board with just over five minutes left in the opening period when Courtney Winters (Swampscott, Mass.) buried a power-play chance off feeds from Jacqueline Bouchie (Belmont, Mass.) and Conway.
Conway doubled the Hawks' lead with a power-play score of her own at the 17:10 mark after she was set up by Alex Kazmer (Crystal Lake, Ill.).
Holy Cross wasted no time mounting a comeback after the intermission. Alex Campione struck on the power play just 21 seconds into the middle period off an assist from Francesca Panarelli. The Crusaders tied it just 1:31 later when Rebecca Fleming potted an unassisted power-play goal.
The game remained tied until Kazmer beat Stevenson on the power play with just under five minutes remaining in the period. Winters and Conway picked up assists on the play.
The Crusaders gained the equalizer at the 9:11 mark of the third when Campione notched her second of the game on a feed from Emily Sullivan. That would eventually send the game to overtime and set up Nicholson's heroics.
This marked the final game for seniors Kathryn Picarello (West Roxbury, Mass.), Ciara Petry (Poolesville, Md.) and Giarrusso, who will graduate in the spring as the program's all-time leader in both points (139) and assists (68) and fell just three short of matching the goals record of 75.
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