EAST BOSTON – Lily O'Neil turned down all 28 shots the Nor'Easters put on net and Suffolk women's hockey scored two unanswered en route to a 2-0 Commonwealth Coast Conference victory over the University of New England Friday night at Louis E. Porrazzo Memorial Skating Rink.
The blue-and-gold wore camo jerseys with the the 22Mohawks logo, a veteran suicide awareness non-profit organization, in a Military Appreciation contest. For more information on how Suffolk women's hockey saluated the troops, click here.
THE BASICS
SCORE: Suffolk 2 | University of New England 0
RECORDS: Suffolk (6-14-1, 5-8-1 CCC) | University of New England (7-10-3, 6-4-3 CCC)
HOW IT HAPPENED
Suffolk jumped on the score board 12:05 into the first period when Kellie Popkin's shot from the point flew past UNE's netminder Delanie Corcoran. The power play came off Elise Wainwright's rebound. Maddie Gagliano got a stick on the puck as well as she pushed the rebound out to Popkin.
The host padded their advantage in the middle period. Off a faceoff in the Rams zone, Sam Molind won it and the blue-and-gold ping ponged the puck down the ice before Alessia DiSilvestro scored. Wainwright and Gagliano collected their second assists of the night.
NETMINDER NOTES
- O'Neil produced a 28-save shutout.
- Corcoran notched 37 saves in the setback.
STATISTICALLY SPEAKING
- Di Silvestro and Popkin produced one goal each for Suffolk.
- Gagliano and Wainwright had two assists apiece.
- Suffolk outshot UNE, 39-28.
- The Rams held a 29-23 edge in face-offs.
- Suffolk went 1-for-6 on the power play.
NOTEWORTHY
- The Rams defeated the Nor'Easters for the first time since a 6-0 win Feb. 25, 2023 in the CCC Semifinals.
- Suffolk moved to 7-2-2 all-time against the University of New England.
- Suffolk is 4-2-0 in Eastie against UNE.
- The win is the first for Suffolk in the series in the Abby Ostrom era.
- Suffolk is now 1-1-1 versus UNE with Ostrom on the bench.
- With tonight's decision, there have been four shutouts in the all-time series.
- Suffolk has won every game against the Nor'Easters when a team is kept off the scoreboard.
- The victory is Suffolk's fourth shutout of the season.
- The Rams have had back-to-back seasons with four cleansheets.
- O'Neil had her fourth shutout of the year and eighth of her collegiate career.
- Popkin netted her fourth goal of the year.
- Di Silvestro scored her fifth goal of the season.
- Di Silvestro has scored one goal in back-to-back games.
- Gagliano had a personal-best two assists.
- Wainwright had her fifth assist of the season.
- Wainwright had her second multi-point game of the season.
WHAT'S NEXT?
Suffolk heads to Nichols tomorrow, Saturday, Feb. 3 for a 4:40 p.m. puck drop.
