Box Score
BOSTON, Mass. – Senior Jenny Currie (Chelmsford, Mass.) played perhaps the best game of her college career as she single handedly carried women's ice hockey to their third straight conference tournament win, as women's hockey blanked Manhattanville College by the final of 4-0 Saturday afternoon in the Beacons Ice Arena in the first round of the New England Hockey Conference Tournament.
THE BASICS
UMass Boston 4, Manhattanville College 0
UMass Boston (14-12-0)
Manhattanville College (9-17-0)
HOW IT HAPPENED
In their first home conference tournament game since 2010, the Beacons made every moment count as they cruised past their longtime conference foes. The victory marked the second shutout tournament win over the Valiants for UMass in the last three seasons, and was also the third straight postseason win over the Valiants as well.
After a shaky first period, the Beacons got the nervous out of their system and turned it into high gear offensively. Currie broke the scoreless draw less than three minutes into the period, when she snuck the puck past Manhattanville goaltender Rose Pijaca following a perfect pass from Kristen Embrey (Highlands Ranch, Colo.) at the 2:35 mark. Also assisting on the play was fellow senior Alexandra Karlis (Denver, Colo.).
From there the Beacons would continue to dominate the Valiants as they continued to knock on the door. Currie's second goal of the day came after the senior brought the puck up the length of the ice and beat Pijaca near post at a near impossible angle. Once again it was Embrey on the assist, along with defenseman Kat Armstrong (Boulder, Colo.) at 15:38
In the third it was all UMass Boston from start to finish. Currie netted her 16th goal of the season at 5:43 on a perfectly placed wrister to the near side. Kaleigh Beauregard (Detroit, Mich.) knocked in the Beacons lone power-play goal of the day at 15:58 to seal the victory, as she fired the puck home to the near post to clinch the victory.
Sophomore Rachel Myette (Pembroke, Mass.) posted 21 stops to earn the shutout victory, which stands as the just the second postseason tournament shutout in program history.
For the Valiants Pijaca tallied 28 stops, including 12 in the second period as she was handed the loss on Saturday.
BY THE NUMBERS
- With the win UMass Boston advances to their fourth straight conference semi-final game
- The shutout for Myette marked the third of the year for the sophomore and fifth for Beacons goaltending
- On the day UMass Boston was 1-for-3 on the power play
WHO'S NEXT
The Beacons will face Castleton University on Friday at Norwich University with a start time to be determined.
