MIDDLETOWN, R.I. – Suffolk women's hockey opened the all-time series with Salve Regina in winning fashion as the Rams downed the Seahawks, 3-1, in a Commonwealth Coast Conference (CCC) battle Sunday afternoon at Howard Rink at the St. George's Rink. The victory marks Suffolk's 15th of the year, which ties the Rams' record of wins in a single season with the 2018-19 inaugural women's hockey team.  

THE BASICS
SCORE: Suffolk 3 | Salve Regina 1
RECORDS: Suffolk (15-3-0, 10-2-0 CCC) | Salve Regina (4-11-2, 3-7-2 CCC)  

HOW IT HAPPENED
All of Suffolk's scoring came over a 4:51 span in the first period.  

Salve Regina denied a Suffolk attempted and cleared the puck the host team zone, however, Leslie Steiner took advantage of the Seahawks swapping lines. The freshman picked up the puck in the neutral zone, zoomed into the Salve Regina territory and fired a shot from the right face-off dot. The puck flew past Madison Jalbert and made it a one-goal gap 10:43 into the action. 

Just over two minutes later, Shana Cote and Sofia Scilipoti teamed up for a give-and-go that ended with the senior captain scoring on Jalbert's five-hole to double the distance to a pair.  

The Suffolk scoring frenzy wrapped up at the 15:34 mark. Maddy Burton picked up the puck from the face-off won by Julia Volpe. Burton shuffled a pass to Emily Bozzi, who was stationed in front of Jalbert's stick side. Bozzi put a shot on target that was deflected to Jalbert's glove side, luckily Volpe relocated to that exact spot and managed to flick the puck into the back of the twine.  

Thanks to those three unanswered goals, Suffolk remained in front comfortably at the first intermission. Salve Regina got one goal back 8:52 into the middle period to make it a 3-1 game. 

The scoring on both sides stopped there but that was the rest of the scoring of the day as both Julia McLellan and Jalbert stood up to the task the rest of the way. 

NETMINDER NOTES

• McLellan finished the afternoon with 14 saves. 
• Jalbert racked up 27 stops in the setback.  

STATISTICALLY SPEAKING

• Cote contributed a pair of points on one goal and one assist. 
• Steiner struck one score. 
• Scilipoti, Burton and Bozzi each had one assist. 
• Suffolk doubled up Salve Regina in shots, 30-15. 
• The Rams commanded face-offs, 27-11. 
• Both teams had one power player chance. Neither scored on the man-up advantage.  

NOTEWORTHY

• Suffolk captured its 15th win over the year, which ties the Rams record of victories in a single season held by the inaugural blue-and-gold team that went 15-9-2 overall. 
• The Rams and Salve Regina met for the first time in program history. 
• McLellan remains unbeaten this season, 3-0-0. 
• Volpe has scored one goal in each of the last two games. 
• Bozzi has set-up one score in back-to-back games.  

POST-GAME PIC
 

WHAT'S NEXT?
Suffolk and Salve Regina are in store for a rematch Tuesday, Feb. 8 at Louis E. Porrazzo Memorial Skating Rink at 6 p.m.