Vikings resist but can't stop Seahawks

SALEM, Mass.-- With Morgan Peritz's help, Salve Regina University women's ice hockey jumped out to an early lead, holding on later in the game for a 4-2 final score against the Salem State Vikings on Tuesday. 

The team earned three goals in the first 20 minutes, going scoreless in the second period and rallied for a final goal in the third period. Four difference Seahawks score during the outing. Peritz was followed up by Riley Esposito, Emily Wroblewski and Gina Richard. 

INSIDE THE MATCHUP:
Final: Salve Regina 4, Salem St. 2
Records: Salve Regina (5-1-1,2-1-1 CCC), Salem St. (2-7,1-3 NEHC)
All-Time Series: The Vikings and the Seahawks have only met once before for a two-game series in 2019. The first game was a 2-1 loss for the Seahawks and the second contest the following day was a 3-3 tie. After tonight's result Salve Regina is 1-1-1 against Salem St.

BREAKDOWN: 

• Period I: Following Morgan Peritz's charge the Seahawks established an early lead. On only the fourth shot taken by Salve Regina, off the stick of Peritz (assisted by Emma Gotthelf), the Seahawks achieved their first goal of the night. Shortly after, the Vikings were penalized for too many players on the ice and Riley Esposito (from Emily Wroblewski and Gina Richard) capitalized on the opportunity, bringing the score to 2-0. Emily Wroblewski acted on yet another Seahawk powerplay after Brenna Greene of Salem St. was sent to the penalty box for body checking. Wroblewski, assisted by Riley Esposito and Maddie Cox, dumped the puck into the net at 18:46 in the first period. 
• Period II: An icing call started off the middle 20 minutes of the contest, bring the faceoff to the Seahawk attack zone. The first penalty of the night for Salve Regina came at 10:18 in the second period when the team was called for slashing. This put the Seahawks on a two-minute penalty kill and the team successfully defended the net with a skater down. The Vikings gained momentum after they went on the power play and although it ended with no change in score Salem St. got themselves on the board at 16:23 in the period. Meghan Azzato got the puck between the posts off an assist from Isabelle Besser. Salem St. pulled their goalie with seven seconds to go in the period, giving them an extra skater on the ice, however nothing came of it and the score remained 3-1 in favor of the Seahawks.
• Period III: The action began with a Viking interference infraction 1:30 into the final period. After seven minutes of scoreless back and forth play, it looked like Salem St. might have the upper hand when the Seahawks found themselves in the sin bin for cross-checking. However just before the end of the Viking power play Salem St. was called for interference and Salve Regina stepped up to the task. The Seahawks earned their third power play goal of the matchup with 11:27 down. Gina Richard made the goal from just outside the Salem St. crease. Richard was assisted by Emily Wroblewski. In a four-on-four affair, 34 seconds left on the clock, Catherine Lawrence (from Cecelia Curtin) slipped past Kopecky's stick for a goal and a final score of 4-2. 

NOTEWORTHY:

• In total Salve Regina took 35 shots and Salem St. had 29 attempts at a goal. 
• The Seahawks won 30 face offs in comparison with Vikings' 22. 
• Salem St. served 18 minutes on nine infractions and Salve Regina spent six minutes in the penalty box on three calls. 
• Ellee Kopecky remained in goal for the entire evening while Vikings' goalie Kaia Hollingsworth briefly skated off for seven seconds. Kopecky posted a save percentage of .931 and Hollingsworth had a percentage of .886. 

ON THE HORIZON: 

In an out-of-conference matchup the Seahawks go head-to-head with Connecticut College on Saturday, November 25 at 3 p.m.