The women’s ice hockey team has been tearing through their conference for the past several weeks and most recently beat Rochester Institute of Technology (RIT) in the quarterfinals of the ECAC East. On Saturday the Beacons faced the third ranked team in the nation, the Manhattanville Valiants, in the semifinals. Manhattanville has been the ECAC Division III East champions for the past two years and beat the Beacons during the regular season by a score of 11-1 two consecutive times. The Valiants also have four of the top 10 scorers in the ECAC East for Division III and seven in the top twenty.
Saturday’s game unfortunately was no different from the other match-ups during the regular season between the Beacons and the Valiants. The Valiants dominated the entire game, scoring 12 goals on 48 shots. The Beacons were shut out for the entire game with no goals and only 22 shots on goal. But this loss cannot take away from the players’ major successes of the season on both a collective and individual level.
The team ranked extremely well within the conference. As a whole, it ranked third for goals scored overall and goals scored per game. Freshman Andrea Ciarletta, who was recently named the ECAC East Rookie of the Year, ranked first in points with 36 and freshman Melissa Belmonte ranked second with 35. The team also had four other players in the top 50 for points with freshman Kerri Zizzo ranked 28th; sophomore Annie Larson, sophomore Molly Norton, and freshman Katie Reardon tied for 33rd; and freshman Calli Beskosty in the 45 spot. While these standings speak for themselves, what is even more amazing is the fact that all of these UMass players are freshmen or sophomores, a tribute to the young talent with which the UMB roster is stocked.
Nationally, the young UMB roster made a sharp statement in the Division II/III standings as well. Ciarletta was ranked second nationally in points scored with 56 and was also ranked first for points per game by a rookie, as well as ranked first in points per game overall. Melissa Belmonte was ranked fourth nationally in Division II/III for points scored with 53 and stood second nationally for points per game overall and as a rookie. Also standing in the top 100 for goals scored per game was sophomore Molly Norton, ranked 85 with .41 GPG. Kerri Zizzo was tied for 38th place in points scored per game and Beskosty was in the 41 spot. Zizzo also earned herself the 20th position in the national standings for points scored per game for a defensive player. The team ranked tenth nationally for goals scored per game.
UMass also had four players in the top 100 for assists per game with Ciarletta tied for seventh, Belmonte tied for 10th, Zizzo in the 88 spot, and Besktosty ranked 98. Amanda Boucher, the team’s rookie goalie, took the 43rd and 40th spots in the nation for goals against average and in save percentage, respectively. For the season Boucher was in the net for 21 games and played 1,132 minutes. During that time she blocked 596 shots. Backing her up for 413 minutes was Shannon Palmer, also a freshman, who blocked 155 shots and ended the season with a 4-2-0 record.
This team has surpassed any expectations one could ever have for a first year ice hockey team. Not only did they come back from a very bumpy January, losing six of nine games, but they also finished the season very strong. The team had some big wins against Holy Cross, RPI, who at the time stood in the first place spot in the conference, and RIT in the ECAC East D-III quarterfinals.
And the accolades don’t stop with the players. The ECAC East has recognized Laura Schuler and recently named her the 2003-04 ECAC East Women’s Ice Hockey Coach of the Year. Before this great award she was known for her years of playing for Team Canada and being the youngest player for the team at age 19; it is no wonder how she worked so well with the abundant young talent at UMass.
For anyone who had the opportunity to watch some of the team’s games this season, one would agree that they played together incredibly well as a group. While the statistics may seem to allude to the idea that only a few players led the team to success, it was clear during every game that teamwork was the true key to winning for the Beacons. As the inaugural season wore on, the team developed together and in the face of hardships, which naturally comes with any team’s first season, they rose to the challenges and became major contenders in the conference. The team will be losing only one player to graduation next season and with a young roster from this season, the UMB women’s ice hockey team will be, without a doubt, one of the strongest teams in the conference next season.
Congratulations to coach Laura Schuler, assistant coach Linda Lundrigan, and the team for a great season played!