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BIDDEFORD, Maine -- Hannah Humes scored twice as No.4 seed University of New England netted a season-high and defeated fifth seed Suffolk University by a 6-2 spread in the opening round of the 2026 Conference of New England Women's Ice Hockey Championship at the Harold Alfond Forum on Wednesday night (Feb. 25).

With the win, the Nor'easters (11-14-1) move forward to square off with top seed Endicott College in the semifinals on Saturday (4:30 p.m.). It will be the seventh consecutive postseason that UNE has at least reached the conference final four. [CNE Championship Page]

The hosts improved to 7-0-0 when scoring three or more times this year, and the total of six was the highest by the program in 77 outings -- since the opening weekend of 2023-24. The Nor'easters captured all four meetings against the Rams (6-18-2) during the season by an overall margin of 18-2.

UNE got on the board first, less than three minutes into the match, when Kaylen Taddia corralled a distance shot from Jamie Ryan and curled it around Suffolk goalie Katelyn Michals [Watch]. Things were even at the end of 20 minutes, though, as Bella Schmidt scored 11 seconds into a power play for the Rams.

The Nor'easters took full control in the 2nd with three tallies, starting with the first of the year from Grace Flannery, who held the zone on a clearance attempt off the glass and carried into the middle and slipped it five-hole [Watch]. Then, Taddia possessed the puck across the blue line and all the way around the net before leaving it for Humes to step into the left circle and snap it into the top-right corner [Watch]. It became 4-1 at the 11:24 mark -- 15 seconds into a shorthanded stint -- as Humes cleared in the length of the ice and Adria Tebo hustled to chase it down, pass to herself off the back of the cage, and put it out front for Jamie DuPont to laser one into the far corner [Watch].

While Suffolk countered with a shorthanded goal off the stick of Julia Holmes early in the 3rd, it took UNE less than two minutes to restore the three-goal cushion (5-2), as Keely Kasputis gathered a loose puck in the middle and chipped a backhand over the right pad of Michals [Watch]. Humes then capped the offensive performance by the hosts by knocking down a failed clear and firing it from inside the right dot into the far-side netting [Watch].

Humes notched three points for the second time in her career, and she added eight of the team's 14 blocked shots -- the defender's third-highest game total out of 104 contests.

Tebo contributed on three scores to help the winning cause, while Kyleigh Matola turned in 19 saves to backstop the result [Watch 19] and bump her personal ledger to 9-8-1. Taddia's two points move her to 16 on the season and atop the team ranks.

Michals wound up making 41 stops for the visitors.