The University of Southern Maine women’s ice hockey team is gearing up for the playoffs this week, riding a three game winning streak, as they prepare to face off against New England College in the Eastern College Athletic Conference (ECAC) Women’s East quarterfinal round (played after press time).
Head Coach for the University of Southern Maine women’s ice hockey team, David Venditti, said his team has the ability to be competitive in the post season. “We are a very young team with good talent. We believe we can compete against any team in our league,” he said.
Venditti said his team will take a ‘one game at a time’ approach as the post season moves forward. “Being a competitive program I feel all the teams in the playoffs are rivals. We did knock New England College out of the playoffs last year and taking one game at a time they are our immediate rival,” said Coach Venditti.
The Huskies finished off the regular season schedule with a win against Colby College Feb.17 and back to back home victories against Sacred Heart Feb. 20 and Feb. 21. The wins brought USM’s regular reason record to 14-9-1 overall, and 10-6-1 in the ECAC Women’s Division III league conference standings. This season the Huskies are undefeated when they are leading after the second period.
This past week, USM junior forward Jessica Judge, Porter, ME, was named ECAC Women’s Division III East co-player of the week. Judge was recognized for her outstanding style of play during the week of Feb. 16 through 22. Judge tallied five goals and an assist during the period to help lead the women to three consecutive victories.
USM triumphed over Sacred Heart 4-2 (Feb.21), and 4-1 (Feb.20) in their final two regular season games played at the USM Ice Arena. Judge scored two goals in the first game against Sacred Heart, while freshman Jennifer Carboni, Cheshire, CN, netted a goal to give the Huskies a 2-1 lead early into the second period. Senior goalie for USM, Karen Jamnik, Cranston, RI, finished the game with 20 saves out of 21 shots on goal.
Judge also scored two goals in the next game, while freshman Jessica Lortie, Cooper City, FL, scored a goal of her own to put USM ahead 1-0 in the first period. Lortie assisted on a Judge goal only minutes later to put the Huskies up 2-0. Freshman, Kerry Leonard, Stamford, CN, added a goal along with an assist to help lead the Huskies to victory. Jamnik ended the game with 22 saves out of 23 shots.
The ECAC Women’s East Division III Semifinals will take place on Friday, Mar. 5 with the championship game set to be played on Saturday, Mar. 6. The top seed ranked in the quarterfinals will be the host for the semifinals and the 2004 ECAC tournament championship game. To keep updated with the USM women’s ice hockey program, view the latest news section in the athletics department online, or grab a seat at the next playoff game.
Joe Pierce can be contacted at [email protected]