Milton, MA - On Saturday the Curry Women's Hockey team will take on #8 Endicott in the CNE Championship game.
The Colonels have already accomplished something that has rarely been done by any program at Curry, and that is reach consecutive conference championship games. Prior to the women's hockey team reaching the championship in each of these past two seasons, the last team to do so was the men's hockey teams during the 2009-10, 2010-11, and 2011-12 seasons.
The Colonels are coming off of a dominant 5-0 win over the #3 seed UNE Nor'easters last Saturday, as the Colonels won the first home playoff game in program history.
The Colonels have won seven of their last eight games, with the lone loss being to the very same Endicott team they will face on Saturday. During that stretch it has been the play of Danielle Reid that has propelled the Colonels to new heights, as she has scored a goal in all eight games. She has scored 13 goals in that stretch, giving her a program record 19 on the season. She is tied for the ninth most goals in the country.
While Reid has been the one putting the puck in the net, it has been Grayson Goolgasian who is running the offense. She leads the conference with 19 assists, and 29 points. She has had 11 assists over the past eight games, including three games with three assists. In the Colonels semifinal win over UNE, she tallied three assists and a goal.
While the heavy focus for the Colonels is on their seniors, it has been a freshman in Bella Mardesich that has helped propel the offense to new heights. She has had two four point games in her last three games, and has hit her stride at the perfect time for the Colonels.
If the Colonels are going to have a chance in this game, they will need to control the puck, something they have been the best in the conference all season. The Colonels sit atop the conference in faceoff winning percentage at .579, well above the second place WNE team at .516. That can be attributed to one of the best faceoff takers in the country in Hannah Berkowitz. She has won an astonishing .675 of her faceoffs, by far the best in the conference. The only other player in the CNE with a faceoff win percentage greater than .600 is her teammate Reid at .607.
The Colonels will also need a stellar performance in net from Sarah Kerr. She has struggled against Endicott this season, giving up an average of four goals per game across three games against the Gulls. But she is playing her best hockey of the season down the stretch, giving up just seven goals in her last seven games.
The Colonels will be faced with stopping the CNE Player of the Year Samantha Fantasia. She scored 16 goals, and tallied 11 assists on the season. She is third in the CNE in points. Making things even harder for the Colonels will be Teagan Hall, who has 12 goals and 16 assists on the season, good for the second most points in the CNE at 28.
All-time the Colonels are 1-12-1 against the Gulls, but that one win came in the playoffs last season in the conference semifinals.
The Championship will take place at Endicott on Saturday at 3pm.
Livestream - https://www.ecgulls.com/links/kw2pzx
Live Stats - https://www.ecgulls.com/sports/wice/2024-25/boxscores/20250308_tw2r.xml
Tickets - https://www.ecgulls.com/links/53ectw
