WINCHENDON, Mass. (March 4, 2022) -- It was another defensive battle between the Franklin Pierce University women's ice hockey team and Sacred Heart on Friday afternoon at the Jason Ritchie Ice Arena. This time though, the Ravens got things done a little earlier, in the semifinal round of the New England Women's Hockey Alliance Tournament. Shortly after the midpoint of the second period, freshman Geno Hendrickson (Warroad, Minn.) forced a turnover and popped the only goal they would need. Sophomore Suzette Faucher (Middleton, Wis.) posted a 23-save shutout and top-seeded Franklin Pierce secured a 2-0 win over fourth-seeded Sacred Heart.

With the win, Franklin Pierce improves to 21-9-1 and advances to play in Saturday's NEWHA title game, set for 7 p.m. at Jason Ritchie Ice Arena. The Ravens will face the winner of Friday's second semifinal, between second-seeded Long Island University and third-seeded Saint Anselm. With the loss, Sacred Heart sees its season draw to a close at 16-15-2.

The first half of the game went scoreless, before a strong individual effort by Hendrickson gave the Ravens the only marker they would need, at the 13:21 mark of the second. She forced a turnover in the offensive end and took control near the right-wing faceoff dot. From there, she curled briefly away from the net, and then into the slot. From the hash marks of the left circle, Hendrickson fired a wrist shot which rang the pipe and then wound up in the back of the net for her fifth goal of the season.

Franklin Pierce would shut things down from there, as the crimson and grey surrendered just two shots to Sacred Heart over the remainder of the second, and only granted the Pioneers six more in the final stanza. Faucher (14-3-1) turned aside all of them, plus the 15 she had faced previously, to record a 23-save shutout, her seventh of the season, as the Ravens punched their ticket through to the NEWHA title game for the first time since 2019.

Kison added some empty-net insurance at 17:43 of the third to create the 2-0 final. She blocked a shot just inside her own blue line and then took off on a partial breakaway the other way. Kison was harried by the back-check as she gained the zone, but finished her 11^th of the season into the yawning cage to ice the game.

Senior Frankie Sanchez (12-5-2) made 23 saves against 24 shots in the Sacred Heart crease in the final game of her collegiate career.