WINCHENDON, Mass. (February 16, 2018) – On Friday night, for the second time this season, freshman forward Nicole Amato (Billerica, Mass.) tallied a hat trick against Post. This time, it was of the natural variety, and she added an assist along the way for good measure, as her four-point night led the way for the Franklin Pierce University women's ice hockey team in a 9-0 win on home ice in New England Women's Hockey Alliance play. Sophomore forward Meg Gilbride (Braintree, Mass.) added a goal and two assists, senior forward Alex Brolsma (Bloomington, Minn.) dished out three assists and freshman defenseman Kara Santoro (Wolcott, Conn.) scored twice on the night at Jason Ritchie Ice Arena.

With the win, Franklin Pierce improves to 13-11-2 (7-11-1 NEWHA), while Post falls to 2-25-2 (0-19-0 NEWHA). The two teams will meet again on Saturday to wrap up the four-game season series. Puck drop is set for 3 p.m. at Jason Ritchie Ice Arena.

With her three assists, Brolsma ran her career points total to 118 (45-73-118). She is now just three points behind Karsyn Baker '16 for the program's all-time scoring record.

Franklin Pierce -- which posted a 58-8 advantage in shots in the game -- got the only two goals it would need in the opening period. Brolsma set up the game's first goal on a 2-on-1 less than three minutes in. With the puck on the right-wing side, she slipped a pass across to freshman forward Kelsey Ryan (Burlington, Mass.), who had an easy finish in front of the left post for her eighth goal of the season, at 2:29.

Later, in the final three minutes of the frame, Gilbride sent the puck from the right-wing boards in the neutral zone to Amato, who was just inside the blue line, in the middle of the ice. Amato turned on the afterburners to get around the lone defender and spring her own breakaway from the top of the circles. She deked to the right post for the finish on her team-leading 15^th of the year. Sophomore defenseman Delaney Guimont (Bedford, N.H.) added an assist as well, at the 17:49 mark.

A six-goal second period for the Ravens broke the game wide open. Amato got another breakaway early in the frame, after forcing a turnover just inside the blue line. She cut in front of the net, headed from the left side to the right side, and salted away the backhand to make it 3-0 at 4:22.

Amato then completed the natural hat trick at 7:44, with her 17^th goal of the year. The initial shot on the play came from freshman forward Marissa Massaro (Brockton, Mass.), but went wide. Amato tracked down the rebound behind the net, exited on the right-wing side and banked the puck off the back of the goaltender's pads and into the net. Gilbride tacked on an assist on the play as well.

The Ravens followed up with back-to-back power-play markers, at 9:59 and 15:29, to make it a 6-0 game. First, Santoro had the finish at the top of the crease for her third goal of the campaign, off of assists from Amato and freshman defenseman Hayley Doneghey (North Attleborough, Mass.). Later, Brolsma sent the puck from the left circle to the left point for sophomore defenseman Katie Neuburger (Fayetteville, N.Y.). Neuburger took a shot through traffic from there and it slipped between the goalie's pads for her second goal of the year.

Just 49 seconds later, sophomore forward Kelsey Holmes (Warwick, R.I.) picked up her third goal of the season. She corralled a puck behind the net and flipped a backhander home as she came back out front on the right-wing side. Sophomore forward Alli Sugar (Canton, Conn.) tallied the lone assist at 16:18.

The Ravens capped the second period's scoring at 19:23, as Santoro finished off her first career multiple-goal game. Neuburger took the initial shot, which was saved, but Santoro was on the scene to bang home the rebound in front of the right post. Brolsma added her third and final assist of the night as well.

The final goal of the game came late into the third period, at the 17:21 mark, to create the 9-0 final. Massaro was able to spring Gilbride on a partial breakaway coming in from the blue line. Gilbride's initial shot was saved, but she put away her own rebound to notch her fourth goal of the year.

Senior goaltender Madison Murray (Berkley, Mass.) started, played the first two periods in net for Franklin Pierce and stopped all five shots she faced to pick up the win (8-5-1). Sophomore netminder Jessica Strack (Reading, Mass.) took over for the third period and stopped the remaining three shots to finish off Franklin Pierce's fourth shutout of the season.

At the other end of the ice, freshman goaltender Ashlynn Neurauter (1-9-0) started in net and took the loss for Post, as she made 27 saves against 34 shots before exiting after the seventh Franklin Pierce goal. Sophomore goaltender Jenna Baumgartner logged the final 23:42 for the Eagles and stopped 22 of the 24 shots she faced.

For more information on Franklin Pierce Athletics, please visit the official website of Franklin Pierce Athletics (http://athletics.franklinpierce.edu). Also be sure to follow the Ravens through the Department of Athletics' official Facebook page (http://www.facebook.com/FranklinPierceRavens), its YouTube channel (http://www.youtube.com/franklinpiercesports) and its Twitter feed (http://twitter.com/FPUathletics). Fans wishing to purchase Franklin Pierce women's ice hockey apparel can do so at the Department of Athletics' online store (http://athletics.franklinpierce.edu/store).