WINCHENDON, Mass. (February 19, 2022) -- It was Senior Night at the Jason Ritchie Ice Arena on Saturday, but it was a youth movement which got the party started. Sophomore Emilie Prive (Morrisville, Vt.) struck 40 seconds in, freshman Mikayla Kelley (Eagan, Minn.) followed up later in the first period, and it was all the offense the Franklin Pierce University women's ice hockey team would need. The Ravens conceded only once, on a second-period 5-on-3, and then cashed in a pair of third-period goals as well, to post a 4-1 victory and finish off a weekend sweep of Long Island University, in a battle for first place in the New England Women's Hockey Alliance.

With the win, Franklin Pierce improves to 19-8-1 (15-3-0 NEWHA) and runs its program-record winning streak to 11 games. With the loss, LIU falls to 13-14-3 (11-3-3 NEWHA). Franklin Pierce now leads LIU by six points at the top of the NEWHA standings, though the Sharks have two games in hand. LIU's final four games are two each against Saint Michael's and Post, the bottom two teams in the league table.

Meanwhile, Franklin Pierce will hit the road next weekend for a pair at fourth-place Sacred Heart. The Ravens will control their own destiny, as a three-point weekend would lock up the regular-season title. Puck drop is set for 4 p.m. on Friday and 2:30 p.m. on Saturday at Sports Center of Connecticut in Shelton, Conn. The league's regular-season champion will host the semifinal and final rounds of the NEWHA Tournament the following weekend.

The Ravens wasted no time getting going on Saturday night, as they struck on just the second shift of the game. On the left-wing side, junior Kaitlyn Brightbill (Silver Spring, Md.) pushed the puck deeper into the corner for Kelley. Kelley then fed it out front for Prive, who tucked a shot inside the right post for her 10^th goal of the season, just 40 seconds into the proceedings.

Kelley would double the lead before the first intermission, on a play somewhat reminiscent of her second-period tally on Friday night, as she finished from the slot off a slick passing setup. Brightbill started things, as she worked the puck off the right-wing boards to freshman Lucy Hanson (Medina, Minn.) in the right circle. Hanson carried to the bottom of the circle then found Kelley in the slot, and the latter wired her eighth of the year into the top-left corner at 16:25. Kelley is now on a five-game goal-scoring streak, and six of her eight goals have come since the semester break.

LIU picked up its only tally of the night via a two-player advantage in the second, after the Ravens got into some penalty trouble in the middle of the frame. With graduate student Marissa Massaro (Brockton, Mass.) and junior Stefanie Caban (Fitchburg, Mass.) -- both regulars on the penalty kill -- sitting in the box, the Sharks got to work. From behind the net, junior Megan Bouveur sent the puck up to the left half-wall for freshman Jeannie Wallner. Wallner moved it up high for junior Carrigan Umpherville, who glided into the top of the right circle and then buried her 10^th of the campaign at the 11-minute mark.

Holding a 2-1 lead through the second intermission, the Ravens would be outshot 10-4 in the final stanza, but cashed in on an early power-play chance to provide some important insurance. The goal came right off a faceoff, as freshman Brooke Remington (Scandia, Minn.) won a right-circle draw back to Prive at the middle of the blue line. Prive's shot from there was turned aside by LIU freshman goaltender Tindra Holm, but junior Becca Kniss (Eden Prairie, Minn.) was on the scene to clean up the rebound at the left post for her team-leading 11^th of the season, at 3:10.

Franklin Pierce held the lead the rest of the way, and then junior Cassidy Jones (Stillwater, Minn.) iced things with a shorthanded, empty-net tally from the left-wing side of the neutral zone at 19:06. The Ravens honored their five-player senior class with Senior Night festivities following the conclusion of the game.

Senior netminder Emme Ostrander (Westborough, Mass.) made 24 saves against 25 shots to pick up the win (7-6-0) for Franklin Pierce. Holm (12-10-2) stopped 21 of 25 shots on her net in the loss.