Box Score HENNIKER, N.H.—UMass Boston snapped their five-game winless streak in a big way on Saturday afternoon, as the Beacons defeated New England College 5-1 in their regular-season finale.
THE BASICS
UMass Boston 5, New England College 1
(UMass Boston 12-10-3, NEHC 8-6-2)
(New England College 3-21-1, NEHC 0-15-1)
HOW IT HAPPENED
Five different Beacon scored and senior goalie Caty Flagg (Metheun, Mass.) made 21 saves on 22 shots to help the Beacons go into the playoffs with a victory.
Erica Lunn (Kingston, Mass.), Kelsey Ryan (Burlington, Mass.), Cailey Kozich (Wexford, Pa.), Mia Sacco (Plymouth, Mass.) and Elie Fallieras (Columbus, Ohio) all scored in the victory.
Katie Leffler (Key Largo, Fla.) and Lizzy Saxer (Colorado Springs, Colo.) both added two assists in the victory. With her two points, Leffler became the first Beacon to reach the 20-point mark (21 total) since the 2015-16 season.
Madison Nipper scored the lone goal for the hosts, who saw their season come to an end on Saturday afternoon.
In net, sophomore goalie Cianna Weir made 42 saves on 47 shots. She set the program record for saves in a single-season with her 36th save of the contest.
UMass Boston opened the scoring 7:49 into the contest. Leffler found Lunn in the top of the slot and her slap shot beat Weird glove side.
The Beacons made it 2-0 at 14:58. Leffler received a pass from Saxer and fed a perfect centering feed for Ryan, who on-timed a shot past Weir.
UMass Boston tacked on a third goal 80 seconds later. This time it was Saxer feeding Kozich, who beat the netminder through the five hole.
New England College pulled a goal back 70 seconds later, as Cortney Reyes and Stephanie Leger fed Nipper and her shot went just over Flagg's glove.
UMass Boston added a single goal in each of the final two periods.
In the second period, Sacco scored at 18:39, when she redirected Addie Budington's (Winnetka, Ill.) centering feed over the goalie's shoulder. Grace Fisher (Vienna, Va.) picked up a second assist on the play.
The Beacons closed out the scoring at 15:11 of the third stanza. Hannah MacDougall (South Dartmouth, Mass.) in the far circle and Fallieras ripped a shot past Weir for a 5-1 advantage.
BY THE NUMBERS
- UMass Boston doubled up the Pilgrims in shots (47-22) and held a slim 27-25 edge in face-offs.
- Leffler is the first Beacon to record 20 or more points since Jenny Currie ('16), Alexandra Karlis ('16) and Kristen Embrey ('17) all accomplished the feat in 2015-16.
- The Beacons finished 0-2 on the power-play, while New England College went 0-3.
- With the win, UMass Boston improves to 21-9-2 all-time against New England College. The Beacons have won 14-straight meetings between the two teams.
- Flagg moved into a tie for third place in program history for a single-season with her 12th win of the year. She also sits tied for first in games played in a single-season (25) and second in starts (24), saves (757) and save percentage (.942) for a single-season.
WHO'S NEXT
With the win, UMass Boston wrapped up the fifth seed in the upcoming NEHC Tournament. The Beacons will likely travel to #4 University of Southern Maine next Saturday. Playoff matchups will become finalized later this evening.
