ORONO, Maine – The Saint Anselm College women's ice hockey team opened its 2021-22 season with a 3-2 win over the University of Maine on Saturday afternoon.

Winning the program's first-ever non-conference NCAA Division I game, Saint Anselm improves to 1-0 on the season while the Black Bears, a member of Hockey East, drop to 0-3 to date.

Junior Allie Kelley (East Berne, N.Y.), a transfer from Quinnipiac, set a program record for saves in her first game in a Hawks sweater, making 52 saves. Head Coach Jen Kindret recorded her first win behind the Hawks bench, navigating Saint Anselm to its historic victory.

"I am super proud of each and every one of these student-athletes for their efforts and level of competition today," said Kindret. "Through the ups and downs of the game, the team found a way to respond and get the win as a group."

Saint Anselm wasted little time lighting the lamp as senior Erin Meyers (Saint Paul, Minn.) scored the first goal of the season for the Hawks just 22 seconds into play. Forcing a turnover in the attacking end, Meyers fired a slap shot through traffic from just above the circles, beating Black Bears goaltender Loryn Porter to her blocker side.

The Hawks added another first period goal as senior Kelly Golini (Tewksbury, Mass.) found the back of the net at 16:56 of the first period. Sophomore Brinna Martin (St. Michael, Minn.) fired a wrist shot on goal, forcing Porter to make a save, but the rebound found junior Devin Porazinski (Parker, Colo.) – she slid a pass to Golini to cap off the play with her first goal of the year.

Saint Anselm held a 2-0 lead after the opening 20 minutes of play, despite being out-shot by an 18-4 margin.

Neither team found the twine in the second period but the Black Bears upped the pace as they sent in 24 shots on Kelley. Through 40 minutes of play, the junior netminder had accumulated 42 saves.

Maine finally got on the board just 3:41 into the final stanza, shortly after the Hawks finished killing off a penalty. Ally Johnson was on the doorstep and redirected a Mira Seregely shot past Kelley that slid over the goal line to cut the lead to one, 2-1.

Sophomore Celesta Paolucci (Grosse Pointe Woods, Mich.) nearly got the Hawks two-goal advantage back just over one minute later as she fired a snap shot in the slot, but Porter turned the strong scoring chance aside.

Following a tripping penalty on Maine, Golini won the ensuing face-off back to Meyers who placed a shot on net that bounced around in front of Porter. The rebound spilled out to Porazinski near the left post and she did not miss, putting the Hawks ahead by a 3-1 margin with her tally on the power play.

Maine found its second goal of the period at 8:14 and cut the score to 3-2. Ali Beltz opened the play by winning the offensive zone face-off back to the point. The puck was wrapped behind the net and sent out to the left face-off dot where Ida Kuoppala fired a wrister into the top right of the goal.

Maine was forced to pull the goaltender with less than one minute remaining in search of the equalizer, but the Black Bears could not convert with the extra skater. Maine registered four shots with the goalie pulled but Kelley made a save, Meyers blocked one, and two shots were wide of the goal.

The Hawks were 1-3 on the powerplay while the Black Bears were 0-5. Saint Anselm also killed three five-on-three opportunities.

Kelley grabbed her first career win after stopping 52 shots on 54 shots on goal. Porter falls to 0-3 on the season, making 16 saves on 19 shots on goal.

Sophomores Claire Weber (Marshfield, Mass.), Maddy McCaffery (Weymouth, Mass.), Abigail Blair (Grand Island, N.Y.), Savannah Popick (South Windsor, Conn.), Paolucci, and Martin join freshmen Madi Ressler (Brighton, Mich.), Gracee Donovan (Orchard Park, N.Y.), Audrey Jackson (Shoreview, Minn.), and Heather McAvoy (Long Beach, N.Y.) in making their collegiate debuts in the contest.

The Hawks are back in action at Quinnipiac on Friday, Oct. 8 and Saturday, Oct. 9.