Westfal's Goal Lifts Bulldogs in OT
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New Haven, CT -- Junior forward Maggie Westfal (New Canaan,
Conn.) scored the game-winning goal on a power play with six
seconds left in overtime as Yale edged Northeastern 1-0 Saturday
afternoon at Ingalls Rink. Westfal's goal made a winner of freshman
goaltender Jackee Snikeris (Downingtown, Pa.), who made 16 saves
for her second shutout of the season. Leah Sulyma, who made 47
saves, was the hard-luck loser for the Huskies.
The Bulldogs enjoyed a 14-4 shot advantage in the first period but
Sulyma set the tone for the game by keeping the game scoreless.
That included denying a pair of Yale power plays. The second period
was more evenly played, with shots favoring Yale 8-6, before the
Bulldogs unleashed a 21-shot barrage on Sulyma in the third period.
She turned them all aside, sending Yale to its sixth overtime game
of the season.
Yale (5-6-4) had been 0-1-4 in overtime entering the game, and had
not won an overtime game since a 4-3 win over Princeton in the ECAC
playoffs Mar. 4, 2005. It looked like the Bulldogs were going to
have to settle for another tie as Sulyma made four saves in the
extra session. But after the last one, on a shot from the slot by
junior forward Sarah Tittman (Chilton, Wisc.), Sulyma was unable to
control the puck. Westfal came in from Sulyma's right side and,
after tumbling to the ice, knocked the puck in for her first goal
of the year. Junior forward Crysti Howser (Wilmette, Ill.), just
back from USA Hockey's Holiday Camp, also assisted on the play.
Snikeris, who made two saves in overtime, has stopped 38 of the 40
shots she has seen in her last two games.
Northeastern fell to 4-11-1 with the loss. Yale has now won three
in a row in its series with the Huskies after losing the first 18.
The Bulldogs return to ECAC Hockey play next Friday with a game at
Princeton.
