Wildcats Beat Vikings 4-1 in Home Finale

SALEM, Mass. - Drea Westgaard's (Elk River, Minn.) go-ahead goal in the second period spurred the Johnson & Wales Wildcats to a 4-1 over the Salem State Vikings at Richard H. Rockett Arena on senior night. Johnson & Wales jumps to a record of 8-9-4 on the season and 5-4-3 in the New England Hockey Conference (NEHC). Salem State is now 3-17-1 for the year and 2-11-1 in the NEHC.

Salem State honored seniors Rose Sullivan (Charlestown, Mass.), Kerryann Goode (Millis, Mass.), Casie Curtin (Wrentham, Mass.), Kylie Currier (Middleton, Mass.), Amanda Giles (Merrimack, NH), Julia Dares (Hanover, Mass.), Ally Webster (Hanson, Mass.), Vanessa Vanbuskirk (Winthrop, Mass.), and Sarah Plourde (Hooksett, NH) for their hard work and commitment to the program.

It was scoreless in the first period as the Wildcats went 0-4 on power play and the Vikings 0-1.

1:38 into the second period, Goode scored the first goal of the game on a power play as Salem State led 1-0. Goode took a backhand shot and the puck slipped under goalie Jasmine Mucci (Arlington, Mass.)

Koryn Russell (Plainfield, Ill.) tied the game at 1-1 7:48 into the second period by finding the slimmest gap and tapping the puck into the net. This was a power play due to a penalty assessed to Giles for body checking.

Westgaard put Johnson & Wales in front 2-1 with 7:28 remaining in the second period. The Wildcats won a faceoff in their offensive zone and Westgaard took the puck and shot it from a tough angle. The puck hit the post and ricocheted into the back of the net.

7:15 into the third period, Kathryn Mason (Grafton, Mass.) took a close shot and the puck went over the head of Dana Smullen (Peabody, Mass.) and into the net for a Johnson & Wales 3-1 lead.

Hannah Tracy (Hanson, Mass.) scored the final goal of the game off an empty net as the Vikings pulled their goalie with 18.4 seconds remaining in the third period.

Johnson & Wales' Mucci picked up the win (5-3-1) after allowing one goal and saving 26 shots.

Salem State's Smullen ended up with the loss (0-7) with three goals allowed and 22 saves.