NEWHA Playoff Press Release

EASTON, Mass. (February 23, 2023)- After making their program debut as a Division I team, the Stonehill College women's ice hockey team clinched the three-seed for the New England Women's Hockey Alliance playoffs and will host number six seed, Post University for an opening round best of three series slated to start on Friday, February 24 at 5 p.m.

"It's pretty cool to see what the girls were able to accomplish in year one of a brand new group with 18 freshmen," said head coach Tara Watchorn. "I really feel like we got better every weekend and I think that was the ultimate goal going in and to put ourselves in a position to host the first round of the NEWHA playoffs is something we're proud of."

Going into this weekend's matchup with Post, Watchorn knows this is not the same Post team Stonehill saw early on saying "It's interesting when you look at our matchup with Post, we played them really on and it was our first regular season win and first conference opponent," said Watchorn. "Then later on to see us going out to them and getting a couple road wins recently and to see how that team has grown, and how first year coach with Gretchen Silverman there and what she's been able to do with the program is really exciting. They are competitiors and we know they are going to give us good games and we have to be ready to go."

The Purple and White will be looking upon their four double digit goal scorers led by Alexis Petford's nation tying, 25 goals followed by Maddison Achtyl, Lily Geist, and Paige Whaley who all have scored 10 goals. In net, Hanna Zukow is one of the top goalies in the NEWHA and will look to continue her strong regular season into the postseason.

While Petofrd is tied for the nation's lead in goals, she leads all freshman in the country in goals and also leads the NEWHA. The five-time NEWHA Weekly award winner (Player of the Week-three/Rookie of the Week-two) has had five multi-goal games on the year and scored the program's first hat trick in a 8-3 win at Saint Anselem (Jan. 21). Petford ended the season registering at least one point per game and finished tied for the NEWHA lead with 41. Not only did she lead the team in goals, Petford also led the squad in assists with 15. She posted a career-high two assists twice this year with the first time against Franklin Pierce (Oct. 28) and at Saint Michael's College (Feb. 11). The four times Stonehill played Post this year, Petford scored three goals and dished out two assists and finished with a +5 rating against the Eagles. 

Achtyl had a strong rookie campaign for the Skyhawks along with her 10 goals, she also had seven assists  on the year. Achtyl also earned NEWHA Rookie of the Week honors for the week of Jan. 10 where she scored twice which included an eventual game-winning goal in a 2-1 win versus Sacred Heart (Jan. 7). Achtyl has now potted two game-winning goals on the year with her previous one coming against Franklin Pierce in a 4-1 win (Oct. 28). The freshman forward ended the year registering at least one point in her last three games played and overall ended the year with 17 points. In her four games against Post, Achtyl has scored twice and dished out an assist and was a +3 against the Eagles.

Geist and Whaley were the Skyhawks' other 10-goal scorers and Geist had seven helpers on the year whereas Whaley had 13. Geist is the only Stonehill skater to win a NEWHA weekly award back-to-back weeks when she took home Rookie of the Week for the weeks of Jan.17 and Jan. 24. During that stretch, Geist posted six goals which included two two-goal performances at Franklin Pierce (Jan. 6) and at Saint Anselm College (Jan. 21). She also had another multi-goal game earlier in the season versus Saint Michael's College (Oct. 19). In her four games against Post, Geist dished out two assists and was a +4. Meanwhile, Whaley ended the year goals in back-to-back games to become the fourth double-digit goal scorer for the squad this season. She also helped set up goals 13 times this year and posted a career-high three assists in a road matchup at Saint Michael's College (Jan. 21). In her four matchups against Post, Whaley had two goals and an assist and was an overall +2.

Zukow had a strong year with the Skyhawks as the sophomore netminder finished with 622 saves and a save percentage of .916 and an impressive 2.51 goals against average all in 1360:52 of action. Zukow ended up finishing in the top-five for multiple categories in the NEWHA including goals against average (fifth), saver percentage (fifth), and win percentage at .522 (fifth). Zukow ended up winning Goalie of the Week three times this year with her most recent win coming the week of January 10. Zukow posted a career-high 44 saves in a 2-2 draw versus Brown University (Oct. 22). She has posted eight 30-plus save games and a saver percentage of .900 or better 17 times. In her lone start against Post, Zukow made 17 stops and posted a save percentage of .895 in a 4-2 victory on October 8. 

As a team, Stonehill is ranked in the top 15 in the nation in goals (107) which is ahead of No. 15 Boston College. In terms of the powerplay, Stonehill is ranked within the top 10 (ninth) in powerplay goals (21) which is ahead of No. 9 Clarkson, No. 11 Vermont, and No. 12 St. Cloud State. The team is tied with No. 4 Minnesota for the nation lead in short-handed goals (nine).

For Post, the Eagles are paced by Kiersten Browning and Sheridan Terrazzano who both have eight goals and 11 assists apiece. Between the pipes, Post is led by Grace Glasrud and in 1187:00 of action, she has made 709 saves with a save percentage of .895 and a goals against average of 4.20.

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