BOSTON, Mass.—Junior Caley Kozich (Wexford, Pa.) recorded her second collegiate hat trick and Victoria Kennedy (Winthrop, Mass.) made 34 saves, to lead UMass Boston women's hockey past the University of Southern Maine 5-2. 
 
THE BASICS
UMass Boston 5, University of Southern Maine 2
(UMass Boston 8-9, New England Hockey Conference 7-4) 
(University of Southern Maine 10-8, New England Hockey Conference 7-5) 

HOW IT HAPPENED
 
UMass Boston scored four goals in just over 13 minutes, to snap a six-game winless streak against the Huskies and move into third place in the New England Hockey Conference standings. 
 
Kozich scored a four-on-four goal, a five-on-five tally and an empty-netter to pace the Beacons offensively. 
 
Seniors Rachael Burum (Marshfield, Mass.) and Katie Leffler (Key Largo, Fla.) each finished with two points in the win. Burum finished with a goal and an assist, while Leffler tacked on two assists. 
 
Freshman Allie Reifler (Binghamton, N.Y.) scored her second goal in as many games, to help the Beacons secure the six-point weekend. 
 
Sophomore goalie Victoria Kennedy (Winthrop, Mass.) made 34 saves on 36 shots to earn the victory. She stopped all 16 shots in the first period and added seven more in the second and nine in the third. 
 
Amelie St-Amant (first collegiate goal) and Georgie Snow each scored for the visitors, who saw their three-game winning streak snapped. 
 
Southern Maine sophomore goalie Haley McKim took the loss after allowing four goals on 37 shots. 
 
Neither side could get anything going in the first period offensively, as Kennedy made 16 saves for the Beacons and the Huskies combined for 11 blocked shots. 
 
After UMass Boston struggled to get anything going offensively to begin the second, the Beacons opened the scoring on their third shot of the period. 
 
Reifler received a pass from Leffler and rifled a shot past McKim at 7:22 for a 1-0 advantage. 
 
Southern Maine answered back less than two minutes later, when St-Amant's shot from distance got through a slew of players in front and went in at 9:17. 
 
UMass Boston took the lead for good at 10:51. With the two teams playing 4-on-4, Leffler fed Kozich who skated towards the goal mouth and roofed a shot over McKim to make it 2-1 at 10:51. 
 
Burum doubled the Beacons lead at 18:26. The senior forward stripped a Husky of the puck behind the net and then darted to the front for a wrap-around goal.
 
The Beacons made it 4-1 just 28 seconds into the third. Kozich carried the puck into the zone on a 2-on-1 and beat McKim through the five-hole.
 
Southern Maine managed to get a goal back at 16:12, when Snow pounced on a Julianne Nelson rebound and wristed a shot past Kennedy to make it 4-2. 
 
Kozich put the game out of reach in the final minute, when she forced a turnover in the neutral zone, stick handled past two players and slid a shot into the open goal at 19:31. 
 
BY THE NUMBERS

• UMass Boston held a 38-36 edge in shots and a 36-24 lead in face-offs. 
• Kozich's hat trick was her second collegiate hat trick. She scored three goals against New England College on December 6, 2019. 
• With the win, UMass Boston earned their first win over Southern Maine in over two seasons (0-5-1). The Beacons improved to 21-11-2 all-time against the Huskies. 
• Leffler has now recorded three goals and seven assists over her past four games. She leads the Beacons with 11 assists and 17 total points. 
• With the win, UMass Boston now sits in third in the NEHC (22 points, 11 games played) one point ahead of the Huskies (21 points, 12 games played). 
• The Beacons back-to-back wins mark the first time this season UMass Boston has won two games in a weekend and just the second time they have won back-to-back games. 

WHO'S NEXT 
 
UMass Boston will travel to take on #3 Elmira College on Friday night at 6 p.m.