The UMass Boston Lady Beacons Ice Hockey team won their first round home game in the ECAC East postseason tournament, defeating the University of Southern Maine by a score of 5-2 on Feb. 24, advancing to the semifinals at RIT in Rochester, New York. Four different Lady Beacons scored including yet another multi goal effort senior forward Melissa Belmonte.
RIT narrowly defeated UMass Boston 5-3 in the semifinal round played in Rochester, New York on March 3. The game was closer than the score as the Lady Beacons made a serious push in the third period scoring twice in the final six minutes, forcing RIT into a defensive mode despite the four goal lead built up in the previous period and a half. The late scoring included a multi goal effort from senior forward Melissa Wigmore.
Christine Higgins, UMass Boston’s “superfan” was named the All-Worldwide Travel ECAC East Hockey “Fan of the Year” for her unwavering support, dedication and enthusiasm for UMass Boston Women’s Ice Hockey. A long-time friend of Belmonte, Higgins drives and hour and a half every weekend to see home games and has even traveled to New York and Vermont for road games. She makes her presence known, wearing a full UMass Boston uniform and gear in the stands and even preparing post game treats for the team. In honor of her dedication to UMass Boston and the ECAC Ice hockey community, Higgins will receive a round-trip ticket to any destination of her choice in the continental US courtesy of All Worldwide Travel, the official agency of the ECAC. The Mass Media congratulates Higgins and we hope here example inspires future “superfans” to come out and support UMass Boston athletics.
Belmonte, Wigmore and Andrea Ciarletta were all named to ECAC East Women’s Ice Hockey All-Conference team for their stellar play this season. Bemonte and Wigmore were both named to the ECAC East Second team, and Ciarletta was named to the honorable mention team.
Records continued to be set by the dynamic duo of Ciarletta and Belmonte this season in the scoring department. The records set this season include multi goal games, power play goals (7, by Ciarletta and Belmonte), all time scoring (167 points, by Ciarletta) and game winning goals, which was tied (5 GW goals, by Ciarletta). The Lady Beacons also set a new record as a team by scoring 11 goals in a game at MIT on Feb. 9. Senior goaltender Shannon Palmer also set a school record with a career winning percentage of .771 percent.
Six seniors are leaving at the end of the year including Belmonte, Ciarletta, Wigmore, Palmer, Katie Reardon and Katie Frossard. Next year’s veteran leadership should come from rising stars Jessica Sams, Casey Turner and Katherine Wall, who all performed exceptionally this season in expanded roles. Despite losing perhaps the biggest core of veterans yet in the four-year history of the team, both the young players still left and head coach Maura Crowell are confident their winning ways will continue into next season.