RELEASE COURTESY OF SAINT ANSELM ATHLETIC COMMUNICATIONS
MANCHESTER, N.H. – Senior Megan Klaus (State College, Pa.) of the Saint Anselm College women's ice hockey team scored four goals to help the Hawks cruise to a 8-1 victory over Post in the New England Women's Hockey Alliance (NEWHA) First Round on Tuesday.
With the win, the Hawks will advance to play the Ravens of Franklin Pierce University on Saturday, Feb. 22 in the NEWHA Semifinals at Sullivan Arena. Puck drop is scheduled for 4 p.m.
The Hawks improve to 15-13-3 on the year while the Eagles conclude their 2019-20 campaign with a 12-23 record.
The game was highlighted by Klaus' four goals, tying the team record alongside six former Hawks student-athletes. Klaus scored her second career hat trick in the process and her first since Feb. 8, 2019 against Sacred Heart. Junior Jayden Young (Norwood, N.Y.) also played a key part in the Hawks offense, recording a career-high three assists in the game. Senior Jamie Gottwald (Easton, Mass.) tied her career-high in assists with two in a single game.
The Eagles opened up with the first goal of the evening on a baseball-style swing of the stick from Katherine Proulx less than five minutes into the matchup. She was able to track down the rebounded puck in mid-air and slap it home. The Hawks answered with a junior Katy Meehan (Quincy, Mass.) strike with 8:10 to go in the first stanza as she backhanded the puck past Eagles goaltender Jenna Baumgartner. Klaus scored her first of her four goals later in the period, converting on a scoring chance in the slot at 15:39. Klaus' tally concluded the scoring in the first period, leading 2-1 in favor of the Hawks.
Following a rebounded shot, freshman Gabrielle Huson (Edina, Minn.) slapped the puck past the goaltender to keep the Hawks scoring going in the second period. Huson extended the Hawks lead to 3-1 at 1:23 of the second stanza. Just 12 seconds later, off a tipped shot in front by Gottwald, sophomore Amanda Nylander (Hanover, Minn.) poked the puck out of the air and netted a goal, bringing the score to 4-1.
With two minutes left in the second period, Klaus stole a Post pass near the attacking blue line and sped up ice. She sniped a shot inside the top left corner to push the Hawks ahead after 40 minutes, 5-1.
Junior Kathleen LeFebre (Methuen, Mass.) started the third period with her second goal of the season, pushing the puck through a scrum in front of the net to extend the Hawks lead to 6-1.
Klaus fired a slap shot from right inside the blue line and scored in the top right corner of the goal to complete the hat trick in the third period, increasing her team's lead to 7-1. Klaus clinched the win for the Hawks with her fourth and final tally with 16 seconds remaining.
In net, senior Michaela Kane (Haverhill, Mass.) recorded 13 saves, yielding only one goal. Kane improved to 8-8-1 on the year. After Kane's performance on Tuesday, she moved up to second place in the single-season saves list with 398, 32 away from the all-timer leader Amy Zappen '10. Baumgartner posted 52 stops in the loss. The Hawks had the majority of the possession throughout the entire game, outshooting the Eagles, 60-14.
Saint Anselm went two-for-three on the power-play while the visitors did not score a special teams goal. Meehan led the team with 10 face-off victories.