Press Release

UMASS BOSTON PULLS AWAY LATE, ROUTS PURPLE KNIGHTS FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE                                                               FOR MORE INFORMATION February 6, 2004                                                                                Contact: Seth Cole Courtesy UMass Boston Sports Information                                          Phone: (802) 654-2537 BOSTON, Mass. – Freshmen forwards Andrea Ciarletta (Watertown, Mass.) and Melissa Belmonte (South Boston, Mass.) each tallied a career-high five points on two goals and three assists to lead the University of Massachusetts Boston women’s ice hockey team to a 7-1 victory over Saint Michael’s College in an ECAC East contest this evening at the Clark Athletic Center on the campus of UMass Boston.   The Beacons improve to 8-9-1 overall and 4-7-1 in ECAC East, while the Purple Knights fall to 2-16-1 and 1-11-0. Ciarletta and Belmonte both assisted on the game’s first two goals, which were both scored by sophomore forward Annie Larson (Park River, N.D.) at 5:44 of the first period and 8:10 on the power play in the second period to give UMass Boston a 2-0 lead.  The Beacons then put the game out of reach when they used Saint Michael’s power play as an opportunity to score, notching three unanswered short-handed goals with the first coming at 18:50 of the middle period when sophomore forward Molly Norton (Milton, Mass.) scored her ninth goal of the season.  Ciarletta netted the next two with her first score coming just 14 seconds into the period and her second coming 16 seconds later to give UMass Boston a 5-0 margin. Belmonte took her turn, for the Beacons, scoring their final two goals of the night at 3:52 of the second stanza and at 14:38 to give UMB a 7-0 cushion.  UMass Boston freshman goaltender Amanda Boucher’s (Billerica, MA) bid for her first career shutout was denied when the Purple Knights’ Michelle Miaskiewicz (Salem, Mass./North Shore Vipers) deflected a shot by junior Meg Lyons (Boxborough, Mass./Acton-Boxborough Regional) into the Beacons’ net with just 23 seconds left to play in the contest for Saint Michael’s lone goal of the night.   Boucher turned away 31 shots to earn the victory for UMass Boston, while sophomore Annice Mason (Berlin, Vt./U-32) made 22 saves and allowed six goals and junior Marcy Ring (No. Attleboro, Mass./Saint George's School) turned away five shots and allowed one goal in relief for the Purple Knights. The Beacons will be in action again tomorrow when they take on Saint Michael’s again at 3:00 p.m.                                                                                  1st         2nd        3rd        Final Saint Michael’s College (2-16-1, 1-11-0 ECAC East)       0          0          1          1 UMass Boston (8-9-1, 4-7-1 ECAC East)                       1          2          4          7 Scoring – First Period: UMB- Annie Larson (Melissa Belmonte, Andrea Ciarletta) 5:44.  Second Period: UMB- Larson (Ciarletta, Belmonte) 8:10 (pp).  UMB- Molly Norton (Katie Reardon) 18:50 (sh).  Third Period: UMB- Ciarletta (Kristin Wilson) 0:14 (sh).  UMB- Ciarletta (Belmonte) 0:30 (sh).  UMB- Belmonte (Ciarletta, Kerri Zizzo) 3:52.  UMB- Belmonte (Andrea Maillett, Audrey Arnold) 14:38.  SMC- Michelle Miaskiewicz (Meg Lyons, Holly Brandl) 19:37 (pp).         Saves: UMB- (Amanda Boucher) 31  SMC- (Annice Mason 22, Marcy Ring 5) 27 Attendance: 149 For complete box score, click here. ###PURPLEKNIGHTS###

For more information please contact the SMC Sports Information Office at (802) 654-2537
Last Revised: October 25, 2002