NORTH SMITHFIELD, R.I. – Sophomore Grace Adams scored the game-winning goal early in the third period to lift the No. 3 seed JWU (Providence) women's ice hockey team to its first playoff win since 2019, a 3-1 triumph over No. 6 Curry College Wednesday night in the Conference of New England (CNE) Quarterfinals at the Rhode Island Sports Center.

The win extends the Wildcats program-record for wins to 13 and sets up a semifinal match on Saturday with No. 2 Western New England, whom they defeated 3-2 this past Friday behind a pair of goals from senior Allyson Barry. The playoff win was the first since a 5-0 shutout of Southern Maine on February 16, 2019.

Sophomore Jordan Hopping scored the first goal for the Wildcats and senior captain Kylie O'Keefe sealed the win with an empty netter at 18:29 of the third for JWU, which outshot the Colonels 30-22 – including 8-4 over the final 20 minutes. Freshman netminder and reigning CNE Rookie of the Week Avery Hall stopped 21 shots to improve to 5-4-1 on the season.

Curry (10-14-2) capitalized on a JWU turnover with 46 seconds remaining in the first to grab a 1-0 lead. Hopping redirected a point shot from Barry on the power play at 15:05 of the second to tie the game at one.

In the third, Hopping fired the puck around the boards and out of the defense zone, and Adams collected the puck in the neutral zone. She then broke in from the left wing boards and tucked a shot through the five-hole at 3:27 of the third to give the Wildcats their first lead of the night at 2-1. O'Keefe's empty-netter from center ice sealed the win.