No. 12 Women's Hockey Drops Heartbreaker to No. 13 Nazareth in UCHC Title – Utica University Athletics

ROCHESTER, NY – The No. 12 Utica University women’s hockey team fell to the No. 13 Nazareth Golden Flyers in double overtime, 3-2, in the UCHC Championship on Saturday afternoon.

 

Carly Stefanini (Framingham, MA/Brooks School) and Maggie Rylott (Cobourg, Ontario/West Northumberland) both scored one goal for Utica. Erica Sloan (Potsdam, NY/St. Lawrence Steel), Carolyn Whitney (Raleigh, NC/Milbrook School), and Tess Barrett (Tewksbury, MA/St. Mark’s) each recorded one assist. In net, Angela Hawthorne (Santa Clara, CA/Meijer) was phenomenal with 48 saves and made countless game-saving blocks.

 

Nazareth came out firing, outshooting Utica 15-6 in the first period of play. Yet, Utica played tremendous defense and goaltender Angela Hawthorne (Santa Clara, CA/Meijer) recorded 14 saves in the first frame. Hawthorne made a handful of incredible saves to keep Utica in the game. The Golden Flyers broke through, and Ally Watrous found the back of the net at the 4:29 mark. Nazareth took its 1-0 lead into the first intermission.

 

The Pioneers gained momentum in the second frame coming out with more aggression. Utica was outshooting Nazareth the entire period and was creating plenty of scoring opportunities. Maggie Rylott (Cobourg, Ontario/West Northumberland) took the puck from the blue line, fired off a shot and then Carolyn Whitney (Raleigh, NC/Milbrook School) corralled the rebound and gave Rylott a beautiful backdoor pass to knot the game at 1-1 at the 14:23 mark. Utica earned a power play after a slashing call and a gorgeous give and go between Carly Stefanini (Framingham, MA/Brooks School) and Erica Sloan (Potsdam, NY/St. Lawrence Steel) gave the Pioneers a 2-1 edge at the 17:03 mark. Utica dominated the second period and took its 2-1 edge into the final period of play.

 

Nazareth came out very aggressive and was pushing the pace of play and firing off shots. The teams were being very physical with four penalties called in the period with three power play opportunities for the Golden Flyers. Utica’s defense was incredible, and Hawthorne made some terrific saves to keep the score 2-1. Nazareth emptied its net to gain the extra skater as Utica was on a power play and managed to tie the game at 2-2 with less than eight seconds to play. The teams would head into overtime to decide the conference winner.

 

The teams continued to play physical and fight for possession of the puck in the neutral zone. The period featured gritty defense and plenty of clearances as the teams fought it out. Overtime saw the teams combined for just 13 shots but both goaltenders made a few fine saves to keep the game knotted at 2-2.

 

The Golden Flyers came out quickly and put in a goal off a deflection to win the UCHC Championship 3-2 in double overtime.

 

Utica (22-3-3, 17-1-2 UCHC) will look to earn an at-large berth to the NCAA Tournament. The selection show will be at 8:30 p.m. on Sunday night and will be streamed live on NCAA.com.

 

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