Pine Valley, NY – The Elmira College Women's Ice Hockey team held on late to defeat Utica 2-1 in ECAC West action Saturday evening at the Murray Athletics Center. The win improves the Soaring Eagles to 4-1-0 overall and 3-0-0 in conference play. The loss drops the Pioneers to 3-4-0 overall and 1-4-0 in the ECAC West.

Utica struck first at the 13:28 of the first period when Megan Myers circled behind the net, feeding a pass out in front to Meredith Tice. Tice beat EC goaltender Lauren Sullivan '13 (Toronto, ONT -- Markham-Stouffville) top shelf past her stick side. Meghan McMahon was also credited with an assist on the score. The Pioneers took the 1-0 lead into the first intermission.

The first half of the second period Elmira began to get more opportunities and that paid off at the 11:37 mark. Ashley Ryan '15 (North Chili, NY -- Rochester Edge) fed a pass to Amber Tirri '13 (Ringwood, NJ -- Wyoming Seminary) who one-timed it, beating Utica goaltender Jennifer Hamel five-hole to tie the game at one. Lauren Campbell '12 (Erie, PA -- Chatham University) also assisted on the score.

With 23 seconds left in the second period EC scored a power play goal when Tori Charron '14 (Goodwood, ONT -- Aurora Panthers) deflected a Madison Johnston'13 (Toronto, ONT -- Toronto Aeros) shot, finding the back of the net. Elmira carried momentum into the third period with a 2-1 lead.

Halfway through the third period the EC defense gave up a few shots but Sullivan made some key saves, including stopping a 1-on-1 opportunity for the Pioneers. The Purple and Gold then killed a Utica power play chance and began to regain some momentum. The Elmira penalty kill once again came up huge killing a penalty in the final two minutes of the game to hold on for the 2-1 win.

Hamel finished with 50 saves for the Pioneers, while Sullivan stopped 18 shots between the pipes for the Soaring Eagles. EC returns to action tomorrow when they host Utica for a rematch at 3:00 p.m. at the Murray Athletics Center.