MANCHESTER, N.H. – Junior Natalie Tulchinsky (Clifton Park, N.Y.) netted her first collegiate hat trick as the Saint Anselm College women's ice hockey team secured a 7-1 win over Post University in New England Women's Hockey Alliance play on Friday.

With the win, the Hawks secured the second seed for the NEWHA postseason and improved to 14-15-4 on the season with a 13-6-4 record in league games. The Eagles drop to 4-26-2 overall and 4-18-1 against league opponents with the loss. The squads are back in action on Saturday, Feb. 18 with a 3 p.m. opening puck drop for the regular season finale.

Graduate student Kelly Golini (Tewksbury, Mass.), senior Margaret Sullivan (Burlington, Mass.), junior Abigail Blair (Grand Island, N.Y.), and sophomores Audrey Jackson (Shoreview, Minn.) and Tyra Turner (Andover, Minn.) all joined Tulchinsky with multi-point efforts in the win. 10 Saint Anselm student-athletes recorded at least one point in the tilt.

Senior goaltender Allie Kelley (East Berne, N.Y.) stopped 16 of 17 shots on goal for the Hawks. Kelley now needs just 16 saves to break her own single-season saves record, which currently sits at 1,040.

Tulchinsky opened the scoring at the 8:44 mark of the opening stanza as she intercepted a breakout pass in the Eagles defensive end and fired a wrist shot into the twine, beating Eagles netminder Grace Glasrud.

Tulchinsky doubled the Hawks lead just over three minutes later with her second of the contest. The junior collected a chip pass from Blair and drove into the attacking end. Tulchinsky made a strong move to her left to open up the scoring chance and push the lead to two.

The Eagles would get one back at 14:21 of the first period as Sheridan Terrazzano lifted a rebound chance over Kelley. Kelley initially stopped a redirected shot by Kiersten Browning but the rebound found Terrazzano who was on the left post.

The Hawks would strike three times in a seven-minute span of the second period as Jackson, Golini, and Turner all found the back of the goal, giving the Hawks a 5-1 advantage through two periods of play.
 
Tulchinsky capped her hat trick at 2:50 of the third period when she redirected a pass in front of the goal from Sullivan.

Turner found the back of the goal at 17:59 of the final regulation period with a wrap-around tally to make the score its eventual final of 7-1.

Saint Anselm held a 43-17 advantage in shots on goal and won 34-of-63 faceoffs in the contest. The only power play of the game went to the Eagles but they were unable to capitalize on the extra skater opportunity.