Freshman Casey Turner’s four goals, a hat trick by sophomore Melissa Belmonte, and other endless fierce attacks allowed the UMass Boston Women’s Ice Hockey team to squash Saint Michael’s College, 5-2 and 10-0 in South Burlington, VT on Friday, January 28 and Saturday, January 30.

UMB (7-8-0, 6-6-0 in ECAC East) extended its winning streak to three, and as of January 31, the team stands sixth among twelve contenders in the Eastern College Athletic Conference East.

Thanks to the generous Purple Knights’ defense, the Beacons improved their standings in the conference. Sophomore Andrea Ciarletta (six goals and 12 points) scored once and had four assists on the weekend to be ranked 20th along with Belmonte in goals and stand 22nd in point scoring. Turner (5 goals, 5 points), who emerged as the team’s reliable point scorer, is 31st with five goals, and has accumulated ten points to place her at 24th.

Against underdog Saint Michael’s (4-13-0, 2-10-0) on Friday, the Beacons started off the soon-to-be-exploding series a little slowly, allowing a 1-2 lead halfway through the second period.

However, the Beacons quickly ended the 8:52 time period they trailed when Turner tied the score with a power play goal. The Beacons would not find themselves on the negative end of the scoreboard for the rest of the weekend. Belmonte put UMB ahead when she won a face-off with Purple Knights goaltender Annice Mason and then shot the puck through Mason’s legs with 5:16 left in the second period. As the Beacons overwhelmed the home team by out-shooting them 60-26, Turner and sophomore Kerri Zizzo added one goal apiece to widen the gap in the final period.

Beacons sophomore goalie Shannon Palmer stopped 24 shots to win her second straight start.

Saint Michael’s had no nuclear, fossil, solid, or solar energy in its tank for another showdown on Saturday. They were left with no other option but to show a white flag to the Beacons, who accumulated a season high ten goals.

Junior Molly Norton opened the floodgate by tallying her fourth goal of the season with 5:21 left in the first period. Katherine Wall followed two minutes later with a power play goal.

Belmonte’s hat trick gave the discouraged opponent the finishing blow. The forward scored twice in the first period, and 6:39 into the second period she was assisted by Ciarletta to complete the feat for the fifth time in her collegiate career.

Turner scored twice in the second period and assisted a goal by junior Kristin Wilson. Freshman Kate Webb netted her sixth goal of the season in the final period. Ciarletta recorded four assists with two minutes left to put an exclamation point at the end of the one-sided match.

Beacons sophomore goalie, Amanda Boucher, made 12 saves for the Beacons to record her first career shutout.

The Beacons will be in action when they host an ECAC-foe Rochester Institute of Technology at 2 p.m. on Friday, February 4 and 1 p.m. on Saturday, February 5.

*Information from press release by Saint Michael’s Athletics is used in this report.