SHELTON, Conn. – The Saint Anselm College women's ice hockey team suffered a 3-1 loss to the Pioneers of Sacred Heart University on Saturday afternoon at the Rinks in Shelton.
Box Score
With the win, the Pioneers completed the season sweep over the Hawks, improving to 19-10 on the year. Sacred Heart holds the top spot of the New England Women's Hockey Alliance (NEWHA) standings with a 16-2 record.
The Hawks fall to 13-12-3 overall and 10-7-1 in NEWHA play. With two games left in the regular season, Saint Anselm remains behind Franklin Pierce in the NEWHA standings in third.
Sacred Heart started the contest with the advantage as junior Gabby Monaco (La Verne, Calif.) was called for a tripping penalty at 15:18 of the first period, earnig the Pioneers their first power play of the day.
The hosts fired off four shots during the power-play but neither found the back of the net. With momentum on their side, Kennedy Spiering broke the scoreless game open at 17:04 of the first period with a goal. The Pioneers remained in the lead heading into the first intermission.
The second period was filled with back and forth play for the first 12 minutes until Jayne Lewis added the first of three tallies in the second period at 12:40. Leading by two scores, Rachel DeLong increased the hosts advantage to three-goal lead at 16:46.
The Hawks answered just a minute later as senior Kaley Campbell (Colchester, Vt.) trimmed the deficit to a two-goal margin at 17:56. Sophomore Kelly Golini (Tewksbury, Mass.) had the assist. Campbell posted her seventh goal of the season.
In the third period, the Hawks led 12-11 in shots, but could not generate a late comeback.
Senior Michaela Kane (Haverhill, Mass.) finished with 25 saves, yielding three goals. Gina Moriello of the Pioneers started the game, recording one save through the first three minutes. Frankie Sanchez closed the game out with 26 saves, earning the victory.
Junior Katy Meehan (Quincy, Mass.) led the squad with seven face-off wins. Both teams finished even in the shots category with 28 apiece.
The Saint Anselm power play was stymied in five attempts while Sacred Heart was 1-for-4 with the extra skater.
The Hawks wrap up the regular season with a home weekend series against Long Island University, starting on Friday, Feb. 14 at 7 p.m.
