MANCHESTER, N.H. – The Saint Anselm College women's ice hockey team secured the No. 3 seed in the upcoming New England Women Hockey Alliance (NEWHA) Tournament after blanking the Sharks of Long Island University by a 2-0 score on Friday night at Sullivan Arena.
Box Score | Video Highlights
The Hawks improve to 14-12-3 on the year and to 11-7-1 against NEWHA opponents. With the win, Saint Anselm will host the sixth-seeded Eagles from Post University in the NEWHA Quarterfinals on Tuesday, Feb. 18 at 7 p.m.
With the loss, the Sharks drop to fourth in the standings with a 10-9-0 NEWHA record. LIU heads into the final game of the regular season with a 10-18-0 overall record. The Sharks will host the Purple Knights of Saint Michael's College on Wednesday for the other spot in the semifinals up for grabs.
The Hawks took control early in the first period, firing majority of the shots before sophomore Amanda Nylander (Hanover, Minn.) opened the Hawks scoring at the 11-minute mark. Senior Jamie Gottwald (Easton, Mass.) recorded the assist on the goal. Saint Anselm closed the period with a 10-4 shots advantage.
Junior Kathleen LeFebre (Methuen, Mass.) kept the momentum going early in the second stanza, registering her first goal of season. Junior Katy Meehan (Quincy, Mass.) quickly passed the puck off the boards, finding the attacking senior Kaley Campbell (Colchester, Vt.) who gained the pass and went behind the net. She quickly fired a pass to LeFebre on a wrap-around who fired home the one-timer.
Senior Michaela Kane (Haverhill, Mass.) stopped a key attack for the Sharks at 8:17 as she denied Renee Hoffman from cutting the lead in half.
Despite neither team finding the back of the net for the remainder of the game, Saint Anselm finished with the 38-13 shots advantage. The Hawks had double-digit shot total in each of the three periods.
Kane wrapped up Friday with 13 saves, earning her seventh win of the season, posting her third shutout of 2019-20. Kane's counterpart, Kenzie Harmison, recorded 36 stops in the loss. Junior Madison Sprague (White Bear Lake, Minn.) posted a team-high eight faceoff wins. Saint Anselm went 0-for-6 on the power-play while the Sharks did not score on two of their chances.
The Hawks will wrap up the regular season with a 3 p.m. contest on Saturday, Feb. 15 against Long Island University at Sullivan Arena. Before the game, the Hawks will honor six graduating student-athletes on Senior Day.
