BEVERLY, Mass. – The Endicott women's ice hockey season came to an end this past weekend as they lost in the semifinals of the IWCHL tournament to Westfield State 1-2. In the inaugural season of the IWCHL the Gulls finished in second place with a 10-4 record.
The contest between the Owls and the Gulls was fought between the posts as both goaltenders showed a great game and backboned the defensive ends, in Endicott's junior Gretchen St. Pierre (Colchester, Vt.) and Westfield's Julie Hannon. St. Pierre posted an impressive 20 saves in the three periods of play while her counterpart tabbed 18.
The Gulls defenders, spearheaded by senior Addie Weeks (Harwichport, Mass.), played outstanding in front of St. Pierre while freshmen's Martha Crowley (Castleton, N.Y.) and Megan Theodore (Dartmouth, Mass.) played stalwart minutes and made many great passes to the forward line for clean breakouts from the defensive zone.
Coach Munzing was proud of his Gulls squad saying, "We followed our game plan very well, but missed on a couple of great scoring bids. Our forwards worked very hard to create scoring chances, including breakaways by Sam Parr and Mackenzie Hurst which were foiled by Hannon. We needed a bad bounce goal tonight but it didn't happen."
The Blue and Green fought through all three periods as they went ahead in the first period on a goal by senior Jess Bilafer (Concord, Mass.), who finished the play by junior Mackenzie Hurst (Gilford, N.H.) who earned the assist.
Defensively, the Gulls held strong until the 13 minute mark of the second period when WSU scored on two power plays in just two minutes. The third period saw the Gulls put heavy pressure on Hannon but they just could not find the back of the net despite their efforts and key shots by sophomore Lindsey Sneider (Gorham, Maine) and Bilafer. Also showing strong offensive pressure were freshman's Katie Saunders (Barrington, R.I.) and Stacy Tomlinson (Morrisville, Vt.).
Coach Munzing praised the skills and leadership by co-captains Bilafer and Weeks as they played their final games for the Gulls saying "They will be missed both on and off the ice. They both posed great leadership as well as tremendous skills."
