Score: No. 3 Elmira College 4 – SUNY Cortland 0
Records: Elmira (3-1-0, 2-0-0 ECACW), Cortland (1-4-1, 0-3-1 ECACW)
Location: Alumni Arena – Cortland, NY
 
Cortland, NY -- The third-ranked Elmira College women's ice hockey team continued its strong start to the season on Saturday afternoon, sweeping the conference opening back-to-back with a 4-0 shutout of SUNY Cortland. The win propels the Soaring Eagles to a 2-0-0 start to conference play.
 
After a somewhat quiet night for Elmira's top-line in yesterday's home opener, the Swedish connection of Olivia Nystrom '16 and Johanna Eidensten '16 helped the Soaring Eagles pull away from the Red Dragons. Nystrom finished with two goals, one each in the second and third periods, while Eidensten added assists on both tallies.
 
Maddie Evangelous '19 continued the strong start to her collegiate career, tallying a power-play goal for the second consecutive game. Anna Tude '17 netted her first goal of the season, which turned out to be the eventual game-winner, while she also collected the lone assist on Evangelous' power-play marker.
 
Kelcey Crawford '18 saw sparse action in the Elmira net through the opening two periods; however, she remained sharp in an active third period. She stopped 10 shots in the final 20 minutes, finishing with 12 in the game to collect her first shutout of the season.
 
Just as they did on Friday evening, the Soaring Eagles came out flying all over the ice. Elmira dominated possession in the attacking zone through the early minutes of the period, firing nine shots in the opening 10 minutes of play. The sustained pressure resulted in a goal at the 8:54 mark of the period, when Tude took a pass from Erin Kishoni '18 and deposited it past Cortland net-minder Deanna Meunier for a 1-0 lead.
 
Penalty trouble continued to afflict the Soaring Eagles throughout the second part of the opening period. Elmira was whistled for three infractions in the period, including twice over a 1:28 span, which gave the Red Dragons 32 seconds of a 5-on-3 advantage. However, the Purple and Gold continued to play smothering defense, limiting Cortland to just one shot on goal in the opening 20 minutes.
 
Shortly after returning to full strength, Elmira was awarded a power play opportunity of its own, as Cortland's Emily Busta was sent to the box for tripping. The Soaring Eagles wasted no time in capitalizing, as Evangelous pumped home her second power-play goal in as many days to double the Elmira lead with 1:22 remaining in the period.
 
The early portions of the second period were a little disjointed, as the train to the penalty box continued in the second. Elmira continued to control the play in the Cortland zone through the majority of the period. Finally, the Soaring Eagles were able to stretch the lead to 3-0, as the Swedish connection on Elmira's top-line got on the scoreboard. Eidensten sent a great pass tape-to-tape to Nystrom, who ripped a wrister into the twine.
 
The Red Dragons showed their best jump of the day in the third period, firing 10 shots in the period. Crawford stood tall to deny all of them, while Nystrom added her second goal of the game at the 5:31 mark of the period to stymie any hope of a late comeback.
 
In His Own Words…
Head Coach Dean Jackson '03 on the team's performance…
"I was happy with our performance this afternoon. I thought we played consistent for all 60 minutes."
 
Jackson on getting off to a strong start to ECAC West play…
"A good start to conference play is always important. It is difficult to climb the ladder in the league standings, so starting out strong is where we want to be. I'm proud of the team for taking care of business this weekend."
 
Jackson on Nystrom's two-goal performance…
"Olivia played a strong game overall and it was great to see her get rewarded by finding the back of the net a couple of times. Her line was working well this afternoon and played a big role in helping us secure the victory."
 
Turning Point
While Elmira's work in the offensive zone has gotten the majority of the headlines early this season, it cannot be understated how that work has stemmed from strong defensive work ethic all over the ice. The Soaring Eagles never let Cortland establish any semblance of presence in the offensive zone through the opening 40 minutes, limiting the visitors to two shots through two periods. By the time the Red Dragons were able to generate some scoring chances they were already in a 4-0 hole.
 
Inside the Box Score

• Elmira dominated possession right from the opening puck drop, outshooting Cortland 17-to-1 in the opening period and 26-to-2 after the first 40 minutes.
• For the contest, Elmira outshot Cortland 37-to-12.
• Crawford finished with 12 saves to collect Elmira's first shutout of the season.
• Nystrom's two goals bring her total to four for the season.
• Returning to the lineup following a one-game absence, Louisa Lippiatt Durnell '18 chipped in the primary assist on Nystrom's first goal.
• Kishoni and McDonald each added one helper on Tude's opening goal.
• Elmira's special teams continued to shine. The Soaring Eagles went 1-for-3 on the power play, while the penalty kill was 5-for-5.
• Elmira went 32-for-59 at the faceoff dot. Eidensten was fantastic, winning 14-of-18 draws.

 
News and Notes

• With the victory, Elmira is now 32-0-0 all-time against SUNY Cortland.
• The Soaring Eagles have begun conference play with a sweep each of the last five seasons dating back to the 2010-11 season.
• The 4-0 victory gave Elmira its first shutout of the season. Its last shutout came in a 4-0 blanking of Oswego State on February 22^nd of last season.
• The Elmira power play has now found the back of the net in three consecutive games. It is converting at a 35.7% clip thus far this year, with five goals in 14 chances.
• The Soaring Eagles penalty kill remained perfect and has yet to concede a goal in 21 chances thus far this year.

 
Up Next
Elmira will be back in action next weekend when it plays a back-to-back against Utica College. The frontend of the series will be played at 3:00 p.m. on Friday, November 21^st, at the Murray Athletic Center Ice Arena. The series will be concluded in Utica at 3:00 p.m. the following afternoon.