For women’s hockey their season has been one of much accomplishment and very little disappointment.

The women concluded their regular season this weekend finishing with two games at Thomas F. Sullivan Arena against the Seahawks of Salve Regina University on Friday, and the Manhatanville Valiants in a Saturday afternoon matinee. The Seahawks won 10 conference games in a row coming into this tilt and moved into a tie for second with the Hawks. The Saint Anselm and Salve Regina tilt lived up to its hype for sure. The two teams went back and forth trading goal for goal. Salve Regina opened the scoring with a power play goal for the early lead. Saint Anselm responded with a pair of goals for their first advantage of the game. Then, Salve answered with back-to-back tallies to regain the upper hand. Saint Anselm replied in the third period to come back and win this hotly contested game. Senior Tiffany Herron of Saint Anselm finished offed Salve scoring with the eventual game winning goal and her second of the day. The final in an epic thriller was 4 to 3 in favor of Saint Anselm. Senior goalie Lindsay Brown made multiple point blank saves on a last second breakaway chance for Salve to seal the victory. With the win Saint Anselm locks up the #2 seed for the ECAC East Open playoffs next Saturday. Saint Anselm handled Manhattanville easily on Senior Day on way to a 5-2 victory to culminate the regular season. It was another team effort by the Hawks, and a strong performance controlling the tempo of the game.

The weekend before had mixed results for the Hawks. They had not lost a game at home all season coming into an enormous game against the Crusaders of Holy Cross in an ECAC East battle between two heavyweights who have split the season series at one game apiece. First, though the Hawks opened the weekend as they blitzed Saint Michael’s goalie Tina Frasca with 39 shots; she stopped the majority only allowing 3 goals which was pretty solid. But it was not enough as the three goals were plenty and the Purple Knights would only muster up 10 shots on goal, all of which were saved by Saint Anselm senior Lindsay Brown. Nine different Hawks recorded a point in the game as they, once again, played like a true team with each player contributing for the win. In a span of less than three minutes midway through period 2 the Hawks scored three times to break the game open and they never looked back as that proved to be the final tally and a season-high 7th straight win.

The next day, game three between Saint Anselm and Holy Cross took place, and the Hawks gained a commanding 3 to 1 advantage with a goal by sophomore Allison Quinn and, at this point in the game, it looked good for the women. This quickly changed though as the Crusaders scored the equalizer late in the third by senior forward Nicole Giannino. The momentum then shifted entirely as the Crusaders just 1:25 into overtime won and took the season series.

Women’s Hawk hockey has had a strong regular season, having posted a 17-5-2 record, but they have much more on their mind with aspirations to succeed in the post season. The ECAC East Open playoffs tournament is coming up next weekend in Colchester, Vermont. The Hawks will play next Saturday, February 28 against the winner of either #3 Holy Cross or #4 Sacred Heart in a semifinal.