BOSTON, Mass. – Despite a career-high 29 saves from sophomore goaltender Alyssa DePippo (Pittsburgh, Pa.) women's hockey dropped a 3-0 decision to Holy Cross in the final New England Hockey Conference game played between the two squads Friday afternoon at the Edward T. Barry Ice Rink.

THE BASICS

UMass Boston 0, Holy Cross 3

UMass Boston (12-6-0, 7-4-0 NEHC)
Holy Cross (16-3-0, 9-2-0 NEHC)

HOW IT HAPPENED

After and evenly played first period in-which the two teams were deadlocked at 0-0, Holy Cross broke the scoreless draw at the 9:12 mark of the second on a breakaway goal by Elizabeth Scala.  Sam Girard forced the initial turnover and found Scala wide open behind the Beacons defense. 

She would then beat DePippo, who handled a flurry of shots in the opening minutes of the second frame, top post glove side. Despite the goal, DePippo continued to hold strong, but received little help from her offense, as Holy Cross continued to shut down any solid opportunity the Beacons had. 

In the third period, UMass came out firing and had a pair of early chances, both which just missed the mark. 

The Crusaders notched their second goal on the power-play when Isabela Bagi fired in a shot from the point that beat DePippo just underneath the cross bar.  Even though they were down by two the Beacons best chance to cut into the deficit came in the form of back-to-back power play attempts.  Unfortunately the Beacons would not capitalize on the man-up advantages, with Holy Cross sealing the victory with just over a minute to play on a slap shot by Scala.

For the Crusaders Marcia Laplante made 10 saves in the shutout as she improved to 6-0-0.

BY THE NUMBERS

• UMass Boston combined for 10 shots in the contest, while Holy Cross finished with 32
• The Beacons were 0-for-5 on the power play, and Holy Cross finished 1-for-4
• Friday's meeting marked the final conference meeting between the two programs, with Holy Cross going to Division I status at the start of the 2017-18 season

WHO'S NEXT

The Beacons will travel to Johnson and Wales University on Tuesday for a 2:45 p.m. non-conference game.  The game is a make-up from earlier this month when it was postponed due to the snow storm that hit Boston.