Sacred Heart Blanks Southern Maine 2-0

            GORHAM, Maine -- Senior Nicole Magee (Burlington, Mass.) stopped 28 shots to backstop the visiting Sacred Heart University Pioneers to a 2-0 victory over the University of Southern Maine Huskies in non-conference action Tuesday afternoon at the USM Ice Arena.

            The Pioneers moved to within a game of .500 with the win and now stand at 4-5-2 overall.  The Huskies dropped their third straight game to slide to 2-8-1 overall.  The two teams will conclude their two-game series Wednesday afternoon (4:00 p.m.).

            Magee earned her first career shutout, and fourth win of the season, stopping everything the Huskies fired her way.  She was very strong in the third period as the Huskies pressed their attack looking to get back into the game.

            Senior Casey Stathopoulos (Waltham, Mass.) and junior Megan Finlay (Cumberland, Maine) scored second-period goals for the Pioneers to provide the offense.

            USM rookie netminder Britney Evangelista (North Smithfield, R.I.) had 17 saves.  Southern Maine finished the game with a 28-19 edge in shots on goal.

            Stathopoulos snapped a scoreless deadlock at 5:06 of the second period potting the rebound of a shot by senior Heather Daley (Brewster, N.Y.).  Evangelista stopped Daley's shot from deep in the right-wing circle, but the rebound went right to Stathopoulos on the other side and the senior captain fired the puck into the open side for her team-leading eighth goal of the season.

            Late in the same period, Finley redirected a pass from sophomore Taylor Moreland (Pleasant Prairie, Wis.) over Evangelista's left shoulder for her second goal of the campaign.

            Southern Maine turned up the pressure in the third period outshooting Sacred Heart 12-3.  Magee made one her best saves of the game midway through the period getting the right pad on a shot from junior McKenna Russell (Stoughton, Mass.).