Chiuccariello leads SRU to victory over Pilgrims

MIDDLETOWN, R.I. – Junior Michaela Chiuccariello (Winchester, Mass.) netted her first hat trick of the season to lead the Salve Regina women's ice hockey team to an 8-3 win over New England College Friday night in a ECAC Women's East contest.

The win lifts Salve Regina to 12-5-3 on the year and 7-4 in the league while the Pilgrims slip to 7-18 and 2-9 in the conference.

Sophomore Molly O'Sullivan (Duxbury, Mass.) kicked off the team's highest scoring game of the year with her third goal of the season just 7:32 into the action. O'Sullivan took a pass from freshman Kayla Smith (Woburn, Mass.) off a rebound and pushed it under the Pilgrim keeper's legs to give SRU a 1-0 lead. Smith added one of her own to double the Seahawk lead to 2-0.

Chiuccariello netted her first goal of the game and ninth of the season 2:24 into the second period before sophomore Cheyenne Boyd (Phoenix, Ariz) went back-to-back with her second and third goals of the game to increase the Salve Regina lead to 5-0 11:42 into the period. Reigning ECAC Women's East Player of the Week sophomore Danielle Phalon (Stoneham, Mass.) assisted on both of Boyd's goal in the second period before added two more assists in the third period for four points in the game.

New England College got on the scoreboard 16:15 into the second period to cut the Salve Regina lead to 5-1. Freshman Mackenzie Meegan (Phoenix, Ariz.) took a pass from classmate Megan Servaes (St. McKinney, Texas) on a power play to net her second goal of the season.

Senior Alexis Fitzpatrick (Somerville, Mass.) scored quickly into the third period off a pass from junior Marisa Roth (Burlington, Mass.) to cut the SRU lead to 5-2 with 17:12 to play.

Chiuccariello scored a pair of goals in a three-minute span to complete her hat trick and push the Seahawk lead to 7-2. Junior Taylor Shepherd (Quincy, Mass.) finished off the Seahawk scoring with her seventh of the season off a pass from Phalon. Freshman Demi Latham (Redwood City, Calif.) scored the final goal of the game off a pass from sophomore Taylor Rossicone (Barnstable, Mass.)

Junior goalie Lauren Hopps (Green Bay, Wisc.) made four saves in the final four minutes to keep the score at 8-3.  Hopps finished with 46 stops in the loss for the Pilgrims while sophomore Mariah Mosher (Auburn, Maine) needed just 10 saves over the first two periods to earn the win for Salve Regina while freshman Nicole Grosser (West Harrison, N.Y.) made just one save in the final period.

The Pilgrims return to action when they travel to Holy Cross on Saturday at 2 p.m. while the Seahawks host Castleton at 7 p.m. following their annual HockeyFest Alumni Game.