Women’s Hockey Handles NEC, 5-1

EAST BOSTON – Suffolk women's hockey registered five unanswered goals to put away New England College, 5-1, Friday night at Louis E. Porrazzo Memorial Rink. 

THE BASICS
SCORE: Suffolk 5 | New England College 1
RECORDS: Suffolk (15-7-2, 10-3-2 NEHC) | New England College (3-20-1, 2-12-1 NEHC) 

HOW IT HAPPENED
Emily Johnston got Suffolk on the board early on as the freshman potted an unassisted strike 2:21 into the action to give the Rams' a one-goal edge.  

Johnston's sixth-goal of the season kept the blue-and-gold ahead 1-0 after the first 20 minutes as Kristen Caporusso turned aside all five shots the Pilgrims put on the target in the first frame. 

Sydney Tietz stretched Suffolk's cushion to two less than five minutes out of the first intermission. On a two-on-one breakaway, Shana Cote fed Tietz who easily flipped the puck over Ashley Castriotta's pads at the 3:53 minute mark to make it a 2-0 Rams' contest. 

The contest turned into a three-goal game at the 16:37 mark as Suffolk capitalized on its second power play of the day. Eight seconds after Kathleen Zimmerman sat down for hooking Payton Dockus wrote her name on the scoresheet with help from Tess Adams and Jesse Kennedy to lengthen the Rams' lead to three. 

Adams lit the lamp twice over a three-minute span late in the third to add to the Rams' advantage. The senior found the back of the net for the first time at the 12:49 minute mark on a set-up from Cote and scored her second strike 2:15 later thanks to help from Madison Duff to give Suffolk a 5-0 lead. 

With just 1:02 left in regulation, Tara Turcotte erased the shutout for NEC as she caught Caporusso off guard to put the Pilgrims on the scoreboard for the final 5-1 margin. 

NETMINDER NOTES

• Caporusso collected 16 saves in the victory. 
• Castriotta finished the night with 45 stops.  

STATISTICALLY SEAPKING

• Adams anchored the eight-player contingent who racked up at least one point on the night with the Calgary, Alberta natve, tallying a pair of goals and one helper.
• Cote also had a multi-point night with a pair of assists. 
• Dockus, Johnston and Tietz each found the back of the net. 
• Duff, Kennedy and Poloskey each notched one assist apiece. 
• Suffolk out shot NEC, 50-17. 
• The Rams went 1-for-4 on the power play and killed of each of their four penalities. 

NOTEWORTHY

• Suffolk remains undefeated all-time versus New England College, moving to 2-0-0 against the Pilgrims.
• The Rams clinched the second seed in the upcoming NEHC tournament. 
• Suffolk's five goals mark the most all-time against NEC. 
• Adams matched a personal-best two goals, producing her fourth contest with two goals, while wearing a blue-and-gold sweater.  

POST-GAME PIC
  

COMING UP
Suffolk concludes the regular season tomorrow, Saturday, Feb. 9 at Plymouth State. The conference clash is set for a 2 p.m. puck drop in the Granite State.