March 15, 2003

Box Score

The No. 7 Providence College women's ice hockey team defeated the University of Connecticut, 7-0, on Saturday, March 15 in the semi-finals of the women's HOCKEY EAST Tournament at Matthews Arena.

The Friars got on the board just over one minute into the first period when junior defenseman Kelli Halcisak (Grosse Ile, Mich.) led the rush into the Huskies' zone and made a drop pass to sophomore Rush Zimmerman (Grosse Pointe, Mich.) who fired the puck high to the glove-side on goaltender Kaitlyn Shain. Providence tallied four goals in the second period to strech its lead to, 5-0. Sophomore Hilary Greaves (Cranston, R.I.) scored on a breakaway after receiving the pass from Halcisak and sophomore Ashley Payton (Chesterfield, Mo.) just 2:43 into the second. Senior Danielle Culgin (Framingham, Mass.) scored the second goal for the Friars at 8:08 of the period on another breakaway that was sprung by Halcisak. Junior Sarah Youlen (Potsdam, N.Y.) beat the Huskies' goaltender five-hole on a shot from the point with 4:19 left in the period. Halcisak picked up her fourth point of the game while Payton scored her second on the night. Senior Jenn Butsch (Berlin, Vt.) scored the fourth goal of the period with 37 seconds remaining from just outside the crease with the assist going to senior Melanie Ruzzi (Burnsville, Minn.). The Friars closed out the game with two third period goals. With 3:34 left in the third, Junior Darlene Stephenson (Virden, Manitoba) off a rebound from a Halcisak shot. The scoring was closed out by Greaves with 1:41 left in the third period, as she scored her second goal of the game on the power play.

Providence outshot Connecticut, 48-26. Freshman Jana Bugden (Corner Brook, Nfld.) made 26 saves and earned her sixth shutout of the season. She improved her record to 19-5-5 on the season. With the victory, the Friars move to 23-6-6 overall on the year and earn a spot in the HOCKEY EAST Tournament finals. The 23 victories mark an all-time high in a season for the Providence College Women's Ice Hockey program.

Saturday, March 15, 2003 Matthews Arena, Boston, Mass.

Connecticut (11-20-4/3-10-3)	0	0	0	--	0	  5/10	0/6
#7 PROVIDENCE (23-6-6/14-1-1)	1	4	2	--	7	  6/12	2/5

Per.	Time	Team		Goal Scorer (Assists)
1	1:29	PC		Rush Zimmerman (Kelli Halcisak)
2	2:43	PC		Hilary Greaves (Kelli Halcisak, Ashley Payton)
2	11:52	PC		Danielle Culgin (Kelli Halcisak)
2	15:41	PC		Sarah Youlen (Kelli Halcisak, Ashley Payton)
2	19:23	PC		Jenn Butsch (Melanie Ruzzi)
3	16:26	PC		Darlene Stephenson (Kelli Halcisak, Meredith Roth)
3	18:19	PC		Hilary Greaves (Rush Zimmerman, Melanie Ruzzi)

Saves:
Kaitlyn Shain (UCONN)          	    8     15	  18    --	41	(60:00)
Jana Bugden (PC)	 	    7     7 	  12    --	26	(60:00)

No. 7 Providence College returns to action on tomorrow, Sunday, March 16 when they play for the first ever HOCKEY EAST Tounrament championship against second-seeded and sixth-ranked New Hampshire at Northeastern's Matthews Arena at 2:00 p.m.