Seahawks sweep season series over Valiants
MIDDLETOWN, R.I. – The Salve Regina women's ice hockey team swept the season-series against Manhattanville for the first time in program history with a 3-0 victory over the Valiants Friday night at St. George's Ice Arena.
With the win, the Seahawks improve to 14-6-4 on the season and 9-5-1 in the ECAC Women's East while Manhattanvile slips to 8-12-4 and 6-6-3 in the league.
Sophomore Michaela Chiuccariello (Winchester, Mass.) took a quick feed from classmate Danielle Phalon (Stoneham, Mass.) on a break way while the Seahawks were shorthanded just above the blue line and went top shelf with a shot to beat the Valiant goalie, junior Kirsten Shaughnessy (Le Center, Minn.) 5:44 into the second period to give the Seahawks a 1-0 lead. Chiuccariello has notched a point in 10 of the Seahawks' last 11 games.
Freshman Kayla Smith (Woburn, Mass.) pushed the Seahawk lead to 2-0 at the 8:04 mark. After Shaughnessy made a quick save, sophomore Molly O'Sullivan (Duxbury, Mass.) and freshman Amanda Cronin (Medfield, Mass.) set up Smith for her fourth goal of the season.
Shaughnessy made five saves in the opening five minutes of the third period before junior Taylor Shepherd (Quincy, Mass.) netted her ninth goal of the year to give Salve Regina a 3-0 lead. After senior Shannon Coleman's (Chicago, Ill.) initial shot was blocked by senior Caitlyn Beauvais (Port Coquitlam, B.C.), Cronin collected the rebound and fed it to Shepherd who sent it past Shaughnessy's left shoulder.
Shaughnessy made 10 saves over the final 15 minutes of action to keep Salve Regina's lead to three but the Valiants could not break through the Seahawk defense. Freshman goalie Colleen Marcik (Madison, Conn.) made three saves over the final five minutes while the defense blocked one shot to keep Manhattanville off the board.
Marcik needed 19 saves in the net for her ninth win of the season while Shaughnessy made 29 saves for the Valiants.
Manhattanville travels to Holy Cross tomorrow at 1 p.m. to wrap up its regular season while the Seahawks host Nichols in their season finale and Senior Night at 7 p.m.