BOSTON, Mass. — The Albertus Magnus College women's ice hockey team dropped a close, 3-1, contest against New England Hockey Conference (NEHC) foe UMass-Boston on Saturday.

After being down by two going into the third period, Gabriella Dellacroce (Woodbridge, Conn.) shortened the gap for the Falcons with the assist from Molly Martin (Buffalo, N.Y.).

THE BASICS

FINAL: UMass-Boston 3 | Albertus Magnus 1

RECORDS: Albertus (4-12-2, 2-8-1 NEHC) | UMass-Boston (8-10-1, 7-4-1 NEHC)

BOX 

HOW IT HAPPENED

• Briony Retasket (Beaverton, Ore.) had a close opportunity to put the Falcons on the board 4:25 in the opening period, but the shot barely ricochetted off the post. Retasket stonewalled a passing attempt by the Beacons and skated down the ice for the shot that hit off the pipe before Beacons' goaltender Veronika Hadamovsky sent it away.
• After a scuffle along the boards two minutes later, UMass-Boston recovered the puck darted towards the net with the three-on-two advantage over the Falcons, but Martin was there to block Rae Alexander's shot attempt and keep the game scoreless.
• Christmas Johnson (Winnipeg, Manitoba) made 10 saves through the first period until Cassidy Morrison scored a short-handed goal at 13:50 for the Beacons 1-0 lead.
• Five minutes later, the hosts padded the lead with another tally for a power-play goal by Gianna Skrelja at 18:16.
• Albertus managed to keep UMass Boston from scoring in the second period as Johnson made 13 saves and the Falcons boasted blocks by Ariana Martin (Hamden, Conn.), Maddy Gootjes (Quispamsis, New Brunswick ) and Madeline Sheffield (Ballston Spa, N.Y.).
• Dellacroce  narrowed the Beacons' led by one with a power-play goal at 15:07 in the final period. Eight seconds into the power play, Kayla Clark (Avon, Conn.) won the faceoff for Albertus before passes were quickly exchanged between Dellacroce and Martin, followed by the quick bullet by Dellacroce that soared just left of the Hadamovsky's glove to make it a 2-1 game.
• The home team closed out the final period with an empty net goal by Allie Reifler for the final tally of the contest.

BETWEEN THE PIPES

Albertus

Christmas Johnson (L, 3-11-2) 38 Shots on Goal | 36 Saves | 2 Goals Allowed

UMass-Boston

Veronika Hadamovsky (W, 4-4-1) 23 Shots on Goal | 22 Saves | 1 Goal Allowed

TEAM STATS

Power-Play Goals/Opportunities

Albertus 1/3 | UMass-Boston 1/3

Penalties/Minutes

Albertus 3/6 | UMass-Boston 3/6

Faceoffs Won

Albertus 19 | UMass-Boston 35

NOTEWORTHY

• Martin has recorded a point in back-to-back games against the Beacons.

UP NEXT

Albertus remains on the road to face NEHC opponent Southern Maine for a weekend series beginning on January 31 at 6 p.m.