Saints Skates Past UConn
Captain Karell Emard scored two goals and assisted on a third as
St. Lawrence University's women's hockey team won its second
straight NCAA Division I hockey game with a 4-1 victory over the
University of Connecticut at Appleton Arena Saturday afternoon.
The Saints, now 2-0-0, dominated play, outshooting the Huskies,
0-2-1, 28-18, but Connecticut goaltender Nicole Paniccia kept her
team in the game and UConn made it interesting with a power play
goal with just under seven minutes to play to cut the Saint lead to
3-1
Emard sealed the Saint win when she intercepted a UConn pass just
outside the Huskie blue line and skated in to put the puck into the
empty net with 1:27 to play as Connecticut had pulled its goalie
for an extra attacker with just over two minutes to play.
"It was a pretty solid performance across the board for the first
two periods," said Saint coach Chris Wells. "I thought we lost a
little focus in the third period, and we took a time out to try to
get back on track. We created a lot of good scoring chances and I
thought we did a very good job on the penalty kill early."
The Saints outshot Connecticut 4-2 on the Huskies first three power
plays, scoring one shorthanded goal and nearly getting another.
St. Lawrence controlled the game from the start and took the early
lead when junior defenseman Brooke Fernandez took a shot from the
top of the left faceoff circle which beat Paniccia inside the far
post. Kelly Sabatine and Emard assisted on the goal which came at
the 16:17 mark of the first period.
Emard made it a 2-0 game when she stole the puck behind the
Connecticut goal with the Saints skating down a player. She stepped
out from behind the net and wrapped the puck around the post before
Paniccia could cover the side for her first of the year shorthanded
at 11:02. Sophomore Rylee Smith then made it a 3-0 Saint lead with
her third of the year at 12:18, putting away a rebound of a
Sabatine shot with Vanessa Emond also assisting.
Connecticut denied sophomore Caitlyn Lahonen's shutout bid at 13:26
of the third period as junior defender Maude Blain scored her first
of the season just two seconds into a power play as her shot off a
faceoff win by Rachel Farrel in the Saint end beat Lahonen along
the ice.
The Saints finished with a 32-19 edge in shots on goal for the game
with five of the 19 Connecticut shots and the lone Husky goal
coming on the power play.
The Saints won their second straight in the series with UConn and
are now 10-3-1 all-time in a series which started in 2003. SLU
takes on Providence College in a 1 p.m. matinee at Appleton Arena
on Sunday.












