MANCHESTER, N.H. – The Saint Anselm College women's ice hockey team soared to an 8-0 victory over Saint Michael's College on Saturday, evening its New England Women's Hockey Alliance First Round series at one game apiece.

With the win, the Hawks move to 16-16-4 on the season while the Purple Knights drop to 2-25-4 on the season. The teams will conclude their NEWHA First Round three-game series on Sunday, Feb. 26 with a 1 p.m. opening puck drop from the Sullivan Arena. The winner of Sunday's contest will advance to the Semifinal round of the NEWHA postseason.

Juniors Claire Weber (Marshfield, Mass.) and Maddy McCaffery (Weymouth, Mass.) went for four points each in the tilt. Weber netted a pair of goals and added two helpers while McCaffery scored one goal and assisted on three others. Freshman Brooklyn Pancoast (Helena, Mont.) added a pair of goals for the Saint Anselm offense in the win. 10 student-athletes recorded at least one point with six of them posting multi-point efforts.

Junior Natalie Tulchinsky (Clifton Park, N.Y.) eclipsed the 40-point mark for the season with a goal and an assist. Tulchinsky and graduate student Kelly Golini (Tewksbury, Mass.) became the first pair of Hawks to have 40 or more points in a single season since the 2012-13 campaign.

Pancoast got the scoring started 6:40 into the first period. The freshman put a shot on Purple Knights netminder Carissa Mudrak which was turned aside. However, Pancoast followed up her initial shot attempt and buried the rebound chance.

Pancoast doubled the lead with a snap shot from the top of the slot, beating Mudrak in the upper half of the goal with just 11 seconds remaining in the period.

The Hawks would go on to strike four times in the second period, starting with a goal from Tulchinsky at the six-minute mark. The junior one-timed a feed from behind the goal from sophomore Audrey Jackson (Shoreview, Minn.).

McCaffery and senior Margaret Sullivan (Burlington, Mass.) scored rebound goals of their own less than two minutes apart from each other before Weber tacked on her fifth of the season and first of the contest at 11:51, which pushed the lead to 6-0.

Junior Abigail Blair (Grand Island, N.Y.) redirected a give-and-go pass from Sullivan early in the third, extending the advantage to seven.

Weber capped off the scoring in the contest with a shorthanded goal at 7:03 of the third period.

Senior Allie Kelley (East Berne, N.Y.) posted a 26-save shutout for the Hawks while Mudrak and Annika Lavender combined to make 42 saves in the goal for Saint Michael's.

Neither side found the back of the goal with their power play chances. Saint Anselm had three opportunities with the extra skater compared to two for Saint Michael's. Golini led the Hawks with 16 faceoffs wins, aiding the team to 37 faceoff wins out of a possible 67.