Saint Anselm downs Seahawks, 5-1

MIDDLETOWN, R.I. - Junior Sarah Ellins (Greeley, Colo.) scored two goals and added an assist to lead the Saint Anselm College women's ice hockey team to a 5-1 win over Salve Regina University Saturday night in Eastern College Athletic Conference (ECAC) action.

Sophomore Aly Zappen (Huntington Beach, Calif.) added a goal and an assist for the Hawks, who rebounded from a loss at Manhattanville last night to improve to 13-9-1 (11-5-1 ECAC) on the season. Sophomore Drew Chernisky (Valley View, Ohio) scored for the Seahawks (12-8-3, 9-5-3 ECAC), who saw their losing skid reach four games.

Chernisky's fifth goal of the season exactly two minutes into the contest gave Salve Regina a 1-0 lead. Junior Danika Williams (Fairbanks, Alaska) fired a shot from the left point that was redirected by Chernisky and past sophomore goalie Amy Zappen (Huntington Beach, Calif.). The Hawks tied the score 1:33 later as freshman Rosemarie Giarrusso (Royal Palm Beach, Fla.) took a pass from Aly Zappen and potted her team-high 13th goal of the season.

Just 40 seconds later, Ellins collected her own rebound on a partial breakaway and beat SRU sophomore netminder Rebecca Simmons (Averill Park, N.Y.) for her ninth of the season. In the second, Aly Zappen's seventh goal of the season at 10:11 gave the Hawks a 3-1 lead, and sophomore Michelle Lacombe (Delafield, Wisc.) pushed the Saint Anselm lead to 4-1 with her fifth of the year at 15:43. Ellins and sophomore Molly Corl (Danvers, Mass.) picked up assists on Zappen's power-play marker. Ellins second of the game 2:28 into the third period capped the scoring.

The Hawks outshot the Seahawks 45-22, holding a 39-11 edge through two periods. The game was marred by penalties as the two schools racked up a combined 52 PIM. The Hawks were able to convert on one of their nine PP chances while Salve Regina went 0-for-13 with the extra skater.

"I didn't think we played particularly well tonight," said Salve Regina head coach Michael Cox. "We certainly didn't create a lot of scoring opportunities, and we got beat to a lot of loose pucks. We looked a little bit slow and tentative, and we're having a tremendous amount of difficulty when we play teams with speed. We're having trouble matching up, so that's been a problem for us. We need to find a way to get it fixed."

Simmons recorded 40 saves on the night but fell to 5-6-3 on the season. Zappen, meanwhile stopped 21 of 22 shots, including 11 in the third period.

The Seahawks return to action on Friday afternoon when they travel to Southern Maine for a 4 p.m. tilt. The Hawks play at Manhattanville Friday at 7 p.m.