IWCHL Tournament Pairings Release
BEVERLY, Mass. – The Endicott women's ice hockey team has earned a trip to the IWCHL North Divisional Championship on Sunday after defeating New Hampshire over the weekend in the semifinals. With goals from freshmen duo Maggie Layo (Sandwich, Mass.) and Alicia Steeves (Chelmsford, Mass.) the Gulls lifted to a 2-1 victory. Endicott will travel to league rival Salem State on Sunday, February 22nd for a 1:30 p.m. start time. The Gulls will enter the game at 9-3-1 as the #3 seed while the Vikings sit undefeated at 12-0 holding the #1 spot.
After a scoreless first period, the Blue and Green got on the board first after Steeves started the scoring at the 7:30 mark as she beat the Wildcats defensive unit for the 1-0 lead. The goal would be the last during the period as Endicott held the one goal advantage heading into the second intermission.
At the 7:24 mark in the third period the Wildcats scored the game tying goal as Jennie Baker made a play to goal with Courtney Peterson and Meghan Kebalka to beat freshman goaltender Melissa Almeida. The tie would not last for long as just under a minute passed when Layo came up big scoring her seventh goal of the season for the game winner.
Endicott last saw the Vikings back on February 1st where Salem State took a 3-0 victory. Back on December 6th the cross-town rivals just edged the Gulls 2-1. The winner of the North Divisional Tournament will then go on to play the winner of the South Division for an IWCHL Championship game between #1 Boston University (11-1-1), the winner of #2 MIT (8-4) vs. #3 Boston College (6-4-2).
