Feb. 28, 2009
Box Score
Worcester, MA- Led by a hat trick from Gina Arnone (Bridgewater, NJ) and a four point performance from Whitney Dziama (Walpole, MA) the Pioneer women's hockey team defeated Saint Anselm 6-3 in the semifinals of the ECAC Open Tournament Saturday afternoon. Sacred Heart will play either Saint Michael's or ECAC regular season champion Holy Cross in tomorrow's title game.
Saint Anselm (15-9-2) jumped out to an early 1-0 lead on a Maria Dougherty tally just 1:27 into the opening period. Sacred Heart's (13-15-2) top line knotted the game at one midway through the first stanza with Arnone's first goal, Lauren Fontaine (Windsor, ON) and Dziama both earned assists on the play. Defense characterized the remainder of the period as the Hawks outshot the Pioneers just 6-4.
Dziama put the Pioneers up for the first time 4:30 into the second frame and Brittany Hartman (Prior Lake, MN) earned her tenth assist of the season. Three minutes later the Hawks evened the scoreboard at two on a Bianca DeSantis tally. The Pioneers jumped right back on top one minute later as Arnone lit the lamp for the second time and Fontaine and Hartman each earned their second assist of the day. Sacred Heart committed four penalties in the second period but the Hawks were unable to capitalize on any of their power play opportunities.
Sacred Heart again struck early in a period, as Caitlin Gottwald (Reading, MA) found the back of the net with Hartman's third assist of the day and Dziama's second. The Pioneers extended the lead to three goals on Kate Dunlop's ninth tally of the year. Cierra Romaldo finally capitalized for the Hawks on the power play to cut the Saint Anselm deficit to 5-3. Arnone iced a Pioneer win with four minutes to play and secured a hat trick with her 24th goal of the season. Arnone now stands at 75 career goals and needs just one to tie and two to surpass the all-time mark in SHU history.
Amanda Nagel (Greenwood, MN) made 20 saves as the Pioneers held the Hawks to 1-8 on the power play to dethrone last year's tournament champions. Sacred Heart returns to action in tomorrow's championship game against either Holy Cross, who defeated SHU 3-0 earlier this season, or Saint Michaels. Game time is set for 4:00 pm at the Hart Center in Worcester, MA.
