ORONO, Maine -- The University of Maine women's ice hockey team opened the 2010-11 season in impressive fashion, downing Sacred Heart by a score of 7-0 Friday night. Senior Jennie Gallo (Castlegar, British Columbia) scored a pair of goals for Maine in the win while Brittany Dougherty (Chesterfield, Mich.) picked up a goal and two assists. Sophomore goaltender Brittany Ott (St. Clair Shores, Mich.) picked up her third career shutout with the win as Maine moves to 1-0-0 on the season. The Pioneers fall to 0-1-0 on the season with the loss.
Junior assistant captain Ashley Norum (Fairbanks, Alaska) got the Black Bears on the board for the first time in the 2010-11 season when she notched a power play goal just 2:23 into the first period. Junior captain Dawn Sullivan (Enfield, Nova Scotia) started the play as she kicked a pass out to Dougherty. Dougherty worked the puck back to the blue line where Norum was ready. Norum ripped a shot that found its way through a crowd and into the back of the Pioneer net.
Maine kept the scoring up as they took a 2-0 lead 17:20 into the first period. Danielle Ward (Lansing, Mich.) got her first career point as a Black Bear as she assisted on the second Maine goal. Ward found Dougherty who put a shot on net. Chloe Tinkler (Wabush, Newfoundland) cleaned up a trickling puck, scoring her first goal of the season.
Maine extended their lead to 3-0 with just 29 seconds remaining in the first period. Myriam Croussette (Baie-Comeau, Quebec) stole the puck in the Pioneer zone and fed a streaking Gallo who beat Sacred Heart's Alexius Schutt to send Maine into thefirst intermission up by three goals.
Maine would once again find magic on the power play 12:41 into the second period. Melissa Gagnon (St. Gilles, Quebec) got things started by sending a pass cross ice to Croussette. Croussette gathered the puck and skated in on Schutt, put a move on her and sent a pass through the crease to Dominique Goutsis (Coquitlam, British Columbia) who tapped the puck into the net, putting Maine up 4-0.
Dougherty extended the Maine advantage to 5-0 when she scored 13:24 into the third period. Sullivan slid a pass to Ward who fired a shot. Dougherty grabbed the rebound and hit the back of the net for her first goal of the season.
Just 48 seconds later, Kayla Kaluzny (Calgary, Alberta) notched her first career goal as a Black Bear. Maine's sixth goal of the night was set up by fellow freshman Jenny Kistner (Peoria, Ill.), who notched her first career Maine point on the player.
Gallo would pick up her second goal of the contest with 3:55 to play in the final period. Goutsis worked the puck around the zone to Croussette who hit Gallo with a pass the led to the score. For Croussette, it was her third assist on the night. The Black Bears would hold on to the lead and take home the win, 7-0.
Ott was solid in net for Maine as she moves to 1-0-0 on the season after picking up her third career shutout, while making 19 saves on the night. Schutt picked up the loss for Sacred Heart, falling to 0-1-0 after making 45 saves for the Pioneers.
The Black Bears bested Sacred Heart in the shots column by an advantage of 53-19 while capitalizing on two of their six power play.
Maine will return to action tomorrow afternoon when they close out the weekend series with Sacred Heart at Alfond Arena. Puck drop is scheduled for 2 p.m.