Locke, Saints Overwhelm Providence

Boxscore

CANTON, N.Y. -- Junior forward Marianna Locke netted her first career hat trick and senior center Sabrina Harbec tallied her first two goals of 2007-08 as the St. Lawrence University women's hockey team rebounded from their 3-2 loss on Friday with an 8-0 pummeling of Providence on Saturday evening at Appleton Arena.

The Saints (2-2-0, 0-0-0) scored more than three goals for the first time this season, as the squad erupted for three first period goals to take a commanding lead after twenty minutes over the visiting Friars.

Harbec opened the scoring with her first of the year, as the St. Hubert, Quebec native took a pass from linemate Carson Duggan and beat Providence goaltender Danielle Ciarletta at 6:31 of the first period. Only 1:12 later, Locke was celebrating her second of the season and first of the evening with an assist going to rookie Kirsten Roach, the first of her collegiate career.

Sophomore goaltender Maxie Weisz got her first start of the season for the Saints, and the Severna, MD native was perfect in the first period, stopping all six shots she faced. Her team's lead grew to 3-0 before the end of the first period, as Locke tallied her second of the game with only 2:39 remaining on the clock before the first intermission. Assists went to senior co-captain Annie Guay (3) and Harbec (5).

After being out-shot 16-6 in the first period, Providence looked to get their offense rolling as they did Friday night when they put up five goals in a 5-5 tie against Colgate. However, the Saints defensive corps looked solid and the offense dominated play in the neutral zone, limiting the visitors to only three shots on goal in the second frame.

The scoring in the period came off the sticks of Harbec and sophomore Tara Akstull. Harbec's second of the game came with a Saint player in the penalty box, as Harbec scored an unassisted short-handed goal, the team's first of the campaign, at 10:10 of the second. Akstull scored her second of the weekend at 15:18, with assists going to Chelsea Grills and Guay. The goal, which put St. Lawrence ahead 5-0, chased Ciarletta from the game after making 20 saves.

Though her replacement, Jennifer Smith, escaped the second period without facing a shot, the Saints continued to work the puck well in the offensive zone, which led to three third period goals. Junior Lisa Batchelor hammered home a perfect centering pass from sophomore Courtney Sawchuk for her first career short-handed goal to make it 6-0 at 9:09, while Locke received a pass from rookie Karell Emard from behind the net and completed the hat trick at 13:52 to put her team on top 7-0. Grills would then tally her first of the season thanks to a heads-up pass by fellow co-captain Kerri Wallace to complete the scoring at 15:03. Akstull also picked up her first assist of the season on the Saints' final goal.

Weisz (1-0-0) did not face nearly the same offensive pressure from Providence as Ciarletta and Smith did, but the sophomore made all 15 saves she faced and posted her first collegiate shutout. Smith made four third period saves on seven shots in relief of Ciarletta, who took the loss and fell to 1-0-2 on the young season.

St. Lawrence remained perfect on the penalty kill and is now 27-for-27 when skating a player down, after holding Providence to an 0-for-8 mark with the extra skater. Behind her three point performance, Harbec is now only four points behind Rebecca Russell on the career point list with 174.

After four games with three different Hockey East opponents, the Scarlet and Brown will open up the 2007-08 ECAC Hockey regular season schedule next Friday, October 26th when they travel to Hamden, CT to take on the Quinnipiac Bobcats. The puck is set to drop at 7:00pm.