PLYMOUTH, N.H. – Senior
Amelia Julian (Apple Valley, Minn.) made 20 saves and Plymouth State University held a 12-4 advantage in shots during the third period, but the University of Southern Maine snuck past the Panthers, 2-0, in a New England Hockey Conference (NEHC) women's ice hockey game at Hanaway Rink on Friday evening.
The ice tilted in Southern Maine's favor to start the contest, but Julian and the PSU defense were able to keep the Huskies off the board through the first period. USM broke through midway through the second when a loose puck in the slot bounced to the stick of a Huskies' skater and the 1-0 lead would hold into the second intermission.
Plymouth State turned up the pressure in the third period, firing 12 shots to USM's four. The Panthers had a power play chance less than two minutes into the stanza but couldn't generate the equalizer. PSU had another skater advantage midway through the frame and opted for the extra skater with just under two minutes left on the clock. The Panthers won all seven faceoffs in the final minutes, but an empty netter with just 23.7 seconds remaining put the game out of reach.
Plymouth State slides to 3-3-0 (3-2-0 NEHC), while Southern Maine moves to 5-4-1 (3-1-1 NEHC).
The Basics:
- Plymouth State 0, Southern Maine 2
- Plymouth State (3-3-0, 3-2-0 NEHC)
- Southern Maine (5-4-1, 3-1-1 NEHC)
How it Happened:
- Southern Maine controlled play through the start of the opening period, but Julian came up with a big stop at the three-minute mark.
- Sophomore Jacqueline Martin (Smithfield, R.I.) made a great individual defensive effort to recover as USM skated in for a breakaway with 13 minutes left in the frame, preventing the Huskies from getting a shot off.
- Seniors Sophie Streed (Surry, N.H.) and Robyn Grant (Airdrie, Alberta) skated in for a 2-on-2 midway through the period, but Grant's bid at the far side was denied.
- Things remained scoreless as the game went into the first intermission.
- Junior Emily DeSimone (Norwood, Mass.) got to the net on the left side two minutes into the second, but her shot was kicked away.
- Southern Maine's forecheck set up the game's first goal at the 7:27 mark of the frame when Julian was unable to corral a bouncing puck with heavy traffic in front and a Huskies' skater collected and fired a turnaround shot into the net.
- Freshman Lilli Warnock (Bernardsville, N.J.) caused a turnover during a line change and skated in along the right side but her shot at the top corner sailed just high with 9:12 left in the stanza.
- PSU's best chance to pull even came with just under six minutes left in the period when junior Libby Carter (Franklin, Mass.) blasted a shot from the slot that was kicked away, and the Huskies carried the 1-0 lead into the third period.
- The Panthers had three shots on net during a power play chance early in the third but came up empty.
- Sophomore Sanna Augustsson (Sätila, Sweden) poke-checked the puck loose to break up a 3-on-1 with less than four minutes to go to keep PSU's comeback hopes alive.
- Plymouth State opted for the extra skater with 1:26 left to play but was unable to pot the equalizer and an empty net goal with 23.7 on the clock accounted for the final score.
By the Numbers:
- Plymouth State outshot the Huskies by a 24-22 margin.
- Julian stopped 20 shots.
- Martin had a team-high seven shots.
- Senior Lauren McNeil (Ottawa, Ontario) had four of the Panthers' 16 blocked shots.
- Both teams finished 0-for-2 on the power play.
- Sophomore Katie Porrello (Milford, Conn.) won 13-of-20 faceoffs.
- Southern Maine has won each of the last six meetings.
Up Next:
- The Panthers are home again tomorrow (Dec. 2) for an NEHC clash with Salem State. Game time is 2:00 p.m.
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