Porter, Simmons lead Seahawks past Plymouth State, 3-0

MIDDLETOWN, R.I. - Sophomore Rachel Porter (Franklin, Mass.) tallied a goal and an assist and junior Rebecca Simmons (Averill Park, N.Y.) recorded her eighth-career shutout as the Salve Regina University women's ice hockey team blanked Plymouth State 3-0 in Eastern College Athletic Conference Women-s East action Friday night at St. George-s Rink.

Sophomores Melanie Sherlock (Colorado Springs, Colo.) and Sarah McCusker (Havertown, Pa.) also scored for the Seahawks, who improved to 9-12-3 on the season, 8-7-2 in conference play, and 7-0 lifetime against the Plymouth State. Freshman Ali Ponte (Richmond Hill, Ontario) made 34 saves for the Panthers, who finished the 2010-11 season with a record of 1-21-1 (1-16-1 ECAC).

After a scoreless first period which saw SRU outshoot Plymouth State 15-3, Porter potted her 10th goal of the season 41 seconds into the second to give the Seahawks a 1-0 lead. She skated out of the left circle and wristed a shot through the legs of Ponte. The unassisted marker was her third game-winning goal of the season.

Later in the period, Sherlock took a pass from Porter and wristed a shot over Ponte-s glove for her ninth of the season to increase the lead to 2-0 at 4:13. McCusker's first of the season at 13:01 off a feed from senior Kendra Andrie (Muskegon, Mich.) capped the scoring.

"We're happy with the win," said Salve Regina head coach Michael Cox. "I thought we did a good job moving the puck. They were really clogging up the front of the net and packing it in on us, so they didn't allow us a lot of quality scoring chances. One of our regular season goals was to lock up a home playoff game, and a win tomorrow will do that for us. We haven't had a lot of home games this year, so it would be nice to play in front of our fans."

Salve Regina outshot the Panthers 37-9 and killed off all four of PSU's power play chances. The Seahawks were unable to convert on five chances with the extra skater. With the win, Simmons improved to 3-6-3 on the season.

The Seahawks return to action on Saturday when they close the regular season with a 4 p.m. contest against Southern Maine. Prior to the game, Salve Regina will honor its four seniors: Andrie, Sarah Small (Medfield, Mass), Kristen Cokely (Cambridge, Mass.), and Danika Williams (Fairbanks, Alaska).