Pine Valley, NY – The Elmira College Women's Ice Hockey team held off a tough Oswego State squad, 4-3, Saturday evening at the Murray Athletic Center. The win improves the Soaring Eagles to 19-4-1 overall and 14-3-0 in ECAC West play, while the loss drops the Lakers to 10-12-2 overall and 8-7-2 in conference competition.

 

Both teams played most of the first period without many opportunities to score. Oswego State finally broke through at the 16:15 mark when Jillian Bergeron fired a shot on net and Kelly Collins knocked the rebound past Soaring Eagle netminder Lisa Marshall '14 (Powhatan, VA -- Wayne State University). The Lakers took a 1-0 lead into the first intermission.

 

Oswego State extended its lead 3:32 into the second period when Kathryn Sbrocchi scored on the power play off passes from Carly Marchment and Melissa Seamont. Less than one minute later Elmira responded when Lindsay Mitchell '12 (Arnold, MD -- NAHA) lit the lamp with Caitlin Metcalf '13 (Calgary, AB -- Edge School for Athletes) and Tori Charron '14 (Goodwood, ONT -- Aurora Panthers) recording assists on the score. Just 13 seconds later EC tied the game when Alex Bresler '12 (Golden, CO -- Colorado Select) found Ashley Ryan '15 (North Chili, NY -- Rochester Edge) for her first score of the game. At the 11:58 mark of the second period the Lakers regained the lead on a Carly Henderson marker, assisted by Marchment.

 

The Soaring Eagles tied the contest once again 2:44 into the third period. Haley Welch '15 (East Amherst, NY -- Nichols School) took a shot from the point. The rebound came right to Mitchell who took a shot but Laker netminder Bridget Smith made another save. Erin Weston '15 (Ajax, ONT -- Etobicoke Dolphins) took another rebound shot and made this one count, netting the goal. Three minutes later EC took its first lead of the game when Katie Gaskin '14 (Pickering, ONT -- Wayne State University) fed the puck up to Weston at the blue line who tipped the puck to Lauren Campbell '12 (Erie, PA -- Chatham University) who took it on a breakaway, beating Smith stick side. Oswego State kept the pressure on and eventually pulled its goaltender with 1:13 remaining for the extra attacker, looking for the equalizer. However, the Elmira defense held strong to preserve the 4-3 win.

 

The Soaring Eagles outshot the Lakers 37-27 in the contest. EC went 1-for-5 on the power play and Oswego State went 1-for-4 with the man advantage. Marshall stopped 24 shots between the pipes for Elmira, while Smith made 33 saves for Oswego State.

 

The Elmira College Women's Ice Hockey team returns to action tomorrow when they host the Lakers for the second time in two days. The puck drops at 3:00 p.m.