Seahawks fall in semis
MIDDLETOWN, R.I. – Castleton State used a pair of goals in the second period to defeat the Salve Regina women's ice hockey team, 5-1, at St. George's Arena in the ECAC Women's East semifinal game, Saturday night.
With the loss, the Seahawks end their season at 16-7-4 while the Spartans improve to 15-9-2 and will go on to face Norwich in the league title match next Saturday.
The first period was tightly contested as neither team seemed to be able to get the puck past the goalie until sophomore Nicoline Jensen (Hellerup, Denmark) scored her 14th goal of the season as junior Samantha McNeil (Garland, Texas) made a play on the puck through the Salve Regina defense to get it to sophomore Anna Daniels (Falun, Sweden) to feed it to Jensen who was positioned perfectly to the top right of the net with 1:35 left in the opening period.
A last second shot by senior Natalia Madryga (Burnsville, Minn.) went wide as time expired and the Spartans took a 1-0 lead after one into the locker room.
Following the second faceoff of the second period, Castleton State scored what proved to be the game with just 1:25 into the frame. Sophomore Rachel Bombardier (Pittsford , Vt.) collected the puck in front of the net and sent a quick slap shot past freshman goalie Colleen Marcik (Madison, Conn.) for her sixth of the year.
Salve Regina got one back to cut the score in half, 2-1, on a power play 5:39 into the second. Junior Sarah Markey (Ashland, Mass.) got a helping hand from sophomore Danielle Phalon (Stoneham, Mass.) and junior Michaela Chiuccariello (Winchester, Mass.) and pushed the puck under the goalie's pads for her 12th of the season.
With 14:11 showing on the clock, the Spartans regained their two-goal lead as Jensen netted her second of the game, this time with a little help from Lisa Kilroy after Daniels original shot was blocked by senior Shannon Coleman (Chicago, Ill.).
3:50 into the third period Castleton State took its largest lead of the game as Taylor Steadman sent the puck past Marcik off an assist from Bombardier for her sixth goal of the season.
Salve Regina pulled its goalie with 2:35 to play in hopes of getting a goal or two back with the help of the extra attacker but Castleton's Daniels sent the puck into the empty net from just outside the blue line to give the Spartans a 5-1 lead with 1:25 to play.
The score would remain 5-1 despite a last shot on goal from each team over the final 1:25.
Spartan goalie junior Paula Stephens (Seattle, Wash.) made an impressive 50 saves in net for Castleton as Marcik finished the day with 23 saves over the 58:50. Marcik finished her freshman season for Salve Regina with a .923 save percentage, the second best single-season percentage at Salve Regina.