The Raiders mob goaltender Taylor Bruno in celebration after beating Salem State 4-1 in the MASCAC semis Friday night at Conway Arena. (Telegraph photo by TOM KING)

NASHUA – The Rivier University women’s hockey team is in a familiar place: a conference championship game.

The Raiders have that opportunity again thanks to their 4-1 win Friday night over Salem State in the MASCAC semis at Conway Arena. It’s their third straight season playing in a conference final.

“Hopefully the third time will be the charm,” said Raiders coach Marykate Drinkwater, whose team will head to the Worcester Ice Center next Friday night at 7:20 to face rival Worcester State for the title. “We are OK being on the road. We’re road warriors, we’ll be fine.”

But they enjoyed their home cooking last night, getting four goals in the first two periods, each from a different scorer in toppling the third seeded 7-14-2 Vikings, with whom they split two overtime games during the regular season.

“It’s been close all year, that was kind of an anomaly,” Vikings coach Anthony Martucci said. “But in the playoffs, anything can happen. … That’s a fantastic hockey team over there. There’s no shame in losing a game to those guys.”

Drinkwater said having the week to prepare for just one team made a difference.

“We talked all week about this team,” Drinkwater said, her team now 17-9-0 (9-4 MASCAC). “I think other times you’re playing two different teams on the same weekend so it’s tough. But we talked long and hard about this team (Salem State), what we need to do to be successful. But also at the end of the day, X’s and O’s don’t matter…It’s about passion at this point.”

The Raiders had plenty of that. They were opportunistic, but they also clamped down on the Vikings defensively in their own end.

“We talked all week about we’ve got to put pressure on the puck always,” Drinkwater said. “They’re a fast team, they’re a gritty team. I always say if you’re going to go, you’ve got to go 100 percent to put pressure on them. That’s when people make mistakes.”

Riv made very few. They got a first-period goal on a rebound by Lillian Wojcicki at 16:21 to take a 1-0 lead into the first intermission.

The Raiders then got power play goal by Marina Bassett, assisted by Jillian Hallee and Chloe Bryda at 6:18 of the second. Three minutes later, they took advantage of a Salem State turnover on their power play as Lexi Davies scored to make it 3-0.

The Vikings got back into it, or so they thought, when Emily Schneider’s shot from the outside came with Riv goalie Taylor Bruno down on the ice at 18:20 to make it a 3-1 game. The Vikings had life, but that lasted just 27 seconds, because Rivier’s Rebecca McKelvey scored, assisted by Jess Driscoll, to restore the Raiders’ three goal lead.

“It’s one of those things where you’re trying to get that one goal to get you going,” Martucci said. “We thought maybe that might’ve been the spark.”

Nope.

“We talk about understanding momentum,” Drinkwater said. “They score, we don’t have momentum anymore, how do we get it back. So getting that puck in deep, going to get it. But obviously, Jess made a great pass to Becka, who had so much time and space and buried it. That gave us a ton of momentum.”

And sealed the deal.

Meanwhile, Bruno, with the exception of that one shot, had the goal mouth sealed with 32 saves.

“Bruno, she’s been outstanding,” Drinkwater said. “She’s stood on her head numerous times. She’s small, but she’s really quick and knows how to control the game.”

Bruno didn’t play in last year’s four overtime MASCAC title game loss at Plymouth State. So she’s looking forward to next Friday.

“It’s unreal, back in this position again,” she said. “I wouldn’t be there if the team wasn’t with me. … We all worked together.”

Rivier goalie Taylor Bruno watches the ;puck go to the corner after she made a save during Friday night’s MASCAC semifinal vs. Salem State at Conway Arena. (Telegraph photo by TOM KING)

The Raiders have traveled to Worcester for a league final before, as two years ago they lost to Worcester State 2-1 in overtime of the ECHA title game. Now both are in the MASCAC, and this year they’ve have played top seed WSU (17-9, 11-2), which beat No. 4 Framingham State 4-0 in their semi, three times and lost all three by a grand total of four goals. What will it take to get over the hump?

“Grit,” Drinkwater said. “I don’t think it’s going to be talent on either side, it’s going to be grit.”

The Raiders have never been short of that, right?