HENNIKER, N.H. – New England College scored a power play goal with 8.6 seconds left in overtime to top Plymouth State University, 3-2, in a women's ice hockey game at Lee Clement Arena on Saturday afternoon.
 
The teams seemed destined for another tie just 24 hours after battling through 65 scoreless minutes last night, but NEC took advantage of a tripping call with just 14 seconds remaining. The Panthers nearly had the win 23 seconds earlier when sophomore Chantelle Ross (Ottawa, Ontario) got the puck all alone in front of the net, but her wrist shot hit the post.
 
With the setback, Plymouth State drops to 2-1-1, while NEC picks up its first win of the year to move to 1-5-2.
 
The Basics:

• Plymouth State 2, New England College 3 (OT)
  • Plymouth State (2-1-1)
  • New England College (1-5-2)

Three Stars:

• Plymouth State
  • Georgia McLellan (goal, 7 shots)
• New England College
  • Cianna Weir (36 saves)
  • Cortney Reyes (game-winning goal, 4 blks)

How it Happened:

• NEC got the scoring started 4:05 into the contest when freshman Emily Lenzen (Littleton, Colo.) fired a quick slapshot off a faceoff win just two seconds into a Pilgrims' power play.
• The Panthers pulled even midway through the period when sophomore Georgia McLellan (Kamloops, British Columbia) whipped a wrist shot from the left faceoff circle to the top left corner.
• PSU went ahead three minutes into the second period as junior Zoe Killisch (Vienna, Austria) redirected freshman Lauren McNeil's (Ottawa, Ontario) blast from just inside the blue line.
• NEC took advantage of another power play to even the score at 2-2 with just over four minutes left in the period. With traffic in front of the PSU net, freshman Katelyn Steven (Clarks Grove, Minn.) hacked the loose puck into the net.
• Skating three-on-three in the extra frame, McLellan carried the puck into the left corner while Ross snuck into the slot as the Pilgrims were making a partial change. McLellan sent a perfect pass to Ross, but her game-winning bid nicked the post.
• The hosts collected their third power play goal of the afternoon seconds later when junior Cortney Reyes (Chino Hills, Calif.) skated into the left circle and whipped a shot just inside the far post.

By the Numbers:

• Freshman Amelia Julian (Apple Valley, Minn.) made 18 saves but dropped to 1-1-0, while NEC junior Cianna Weir (Olds, Alberta) stopped 36 shots to improve to 1-4-2.
• PSU outshot the Pilgrims by a 38-21 margin, but NEC went 3-of-6 on the power play. The Panthers were scoreless in six power play opportunities.
• The loss snaps PSU's program-best unbeaten streak to start a season (2-0-1) and breaks the Panthers' ten-game unbeaten streak (9-0-1) against the Pilgrims.

Up Next:

• Plymouth State heads to Norwich University on Friday (Mar. 12) to kick off a weekend series with the Cadets.