Duggan Lights Lamp Three Times to Pace Saints

Photo by Beverly Schaefer

Boxscore

PROVIDENCE, RI -- Junior forward Carson Duggan scored her third career hat trick and senior forward Chelsea Grills extended her active point-scoring streak to 11 games as the No. 5 St. Lawrence University women's hockey team scored five unanswered goals to defeat Brown University by the score of 6-2 Friday night.

The conference victory for the Saints moves their record to 6-1-0 in ECAC Hockey, and to 10-3-0 overall. Meanwhile, the Bears dropped their seventh straight game to St. Lawrence and fell to 1-9-1 ( 1-6-1) on the season.

It was the home team, though, that would gain the upper hand first, as Rylee Olewinski scored her second goal of the season on the power play at 11:03 of the first period. She was set up by Sasha Van Muyen, who centered a pass from behind St. Lawrence goalie Maxie Weisz and into the right side of the net for a 1-0 Brown lead. The goal was the first scored on Weisz in the 2007-08 season.

Grills would even the score at 17:46 of the first period, when she tallied her sixth goal of the season, with assists going to sophomore Tara Akstull and senior Kerri Wallace. It was the Saints' first of five power play goals on the evening, as special teams would play the major role in the visiting team's victory.

Only 24 seconds after Grills tied the game, Hayley Moore would give Brown the lead again at 18:10 as her shot from just inside the blue line got behind Weisz for her second goal of the season. That lead would last only 1:12 though, as St. Lawrence would convert on the power play again at 19:22 when senior Annie Guay, playing for the first time since November 2 nd, fired a shot from the point, and Duggan deflected it past Brown goalie Nicole Stock for her first of the game. The goal, which was also assisted by sophomore Britni Smith, sent the teams to the locker room tied 2-2 after one period.

Grills and Duggan would continue to provide the offense for the visitors in the second period, as each player scored their second goal of the night in the frame. Grills gave St. Lawrence a lead that they would never relinquish at 7:24 of the period while her team skated with the extra player. Guay again started the play, as her shot from the point trickled behind Stock, and Grills was there to finish the play and put the Saints on top for the first time in the game.

Senior Sabrina Harbec, who collected three assists in the game, picked up her second of the evening and 14 th of the season on the team's fourth goal. The St. Hubert, Quebec native carried the puck behind the net on the power play, and centered a precise pass right on Duggan's stick, who one-timed the shot past Stock's pads to put the Saints ahead, 4-2 after two periods of play.

Though Brown out-shot St. Lawrence 11-9 in the third period, Weisz was solid between the pipes and kept the Bears from clawing their way back into the game. Instead, Duggan put the game out of reach at 15:20 of the final period when she completed the hat trick on the power play, with assists going to Harbec and Guay.

Junior forward Alison Domenico would add her fifth goal of the season only 17 seconds later on the power play to cap the game's scoring at 6-2 in favor of the Scarlet and Brown. Assists on the goal went to sophomore Brittaney Maschmeyer and Grills.

St. Lawrence finished with a 31-20 advantage in shots on goal and were 5-of-9 on the power play. Untimely penalties hurt Brown's bid at an upset, as they took four penalties in the third period and finished only 1-of-8 with the extra skater.

Weisz made 18 stops, winning for the third time this season and remaining unbeaten in her collegiate career (7-0-0). Stock took the loss for Brown despite making 25 saves, falling to 1-9-1 on the season.

St. Lawrence will look to earn a weekend sweep in their final conference game until January 11th when they visit Yale University tomorrow, Saturday, December 1st. The puck is set to drop on the Saints and Bulldogs at 4 p.m.