Seahawks fall to Huskies in quarterfinals

MIDDLETOWN, R.I. – Senior Kailey Bubier's (Auburn, Maine) hat trick led the visiting No.6 seeded Southern Maine Huskies to a first round upset of #3 Salve Regina on its home ice, 5-2, Saturday evening at St. George's Arena.

Southern Maine got out to a first period lead after it took almost the entire period before senior Kailey Bubier (Auburn, Maine) found the net for the first time in the game with 2:10 remaining before the first intermission. While the Huskies were short-handed, Bubier found the net with an unassisted goal to give Southern Maine the 1-0 lead.

Sophomore goalie Liz Bergstrom (Chanhassen, Minn.) made two saves in the final two minutes of play to keep Salve Regina off the board.

Salve Regina found it's equalizer, however, shortly into the second period. Sophomore Taylor Shepherd (Quincy, Mass.) took a feed from freshman Danielle Phalon (Stoneham, Mass.) and sophomore Michaela Chiuccariello (Winchester, Mass.) and shot the puck past Bergstrom's shoulder to even the score at 1-1 4:57 into the second frame.

With 1:28 left in the second period, freshman Cassandra Sherman (North Smithfield, R.I.) got the puck from sophomore Julia Pearl (Essex Junction, Vt.) and junior Shannon Cronin (Wakefield, Mass.) to give the Huskies a 2-1 lead going into the second intermission.

Junior Erin Banfield (Montpelier, Vt.) pushed the Huskie lead to 3-1 eight minutes into the final period off an assist from junior Brittany Soar (Boxborough, Mass.) and freshman Cassandra Sherman (North Smithfield, R.I.). Bubier netted her second goal of the game 1:43 later off assists from Pearl and senior Katie Davis (Woburn, Mass.).

Salve Regina got one back with 9:31 to play when senior Rachel Porter (Franklin, Mass.) slipped the puck to Chiuccariello, who skated past two defenders to beat the goalie high and cut the lead to 4-2.

Bubier put the finishing touches on her hat trick as she sent the final goal of the game home off a pass from freshman Kaleigh Heath (Jericho, Vt.) with just over three minutes left in regulation.

Salve Regina pulled its goalie to get an extra skater advantage but couldn't find the back of the net as Bergstrom turned away a shot and the Huskie defense kept the Seahawks off the board for the final minutes of the game.

Senior goalie Ali Muehlbronner (Glendside, Pa.) made 18 saves in the net for Salve Regina while Bergstrom need 33 saves for the victory.

The Seahawks end their season with a 15-11 overall record while the Huskies advance to the semifinals with a  record of 7-12-6.