UTICA, NY – One day after the Nexus Center ceremonial opening, the No. 14 Utica University women’s hockey team celebrated with a 3-1 win over the Alvernia University Golden Wolves for its sixth consecutive victory.
Utica dominated first period action as the team scored two goals within the first 12:30 of play while keeping Alvernia off the board. The Pioneers held a commanding 15-3 shot advantage by the end of the first.
Cortney Staniszewski (Buffalo, NY/Niagara Jr. Purple Eagles) got the Pioneers on the board at the 9:58 mark as she fired a shot past Alvernia’s goaltender, Julia Beaven. The goal came off assists from Ava Suda (Cheektowaga, NY/Buffalo Bisons) and Hannah Keating (North Andover, MA/HPNA). Staniszewski has now scored in consecutive matchups and has three goals on the season. Carly Stefanini (Framingham, MA/Brooks School) would strike again shortly for the Pioneers as she netted the second goal of the night unassisted at the 12:19 mark in the first.
The Golden Wolves showed some fight in the second, scoring the lone goal in the period to make the score 2-1.
Alvernia’s Abby Reisinger was the one to find the back of the net for the team, an unassisted goal, at the 4:41 mark to bring the Golden Wolves deficit to a goal. Their early period attack continued as they entered a penalty kill at the 6:35 mark. Utica was able to fend off Alvernia after multiple excellent saves by Angela Hawthorne (Santa Clara, CA/Meijer). The Pioneers have been incredible defending in penalty kills this season, allowing only one goal in 26 penalty kills for a .038 percentage. Despite outshooting Alvernia 6-4 in the period, Utica was not able to add a goal of their own but maintained a 2-1 lead entering the final frame.
It was a constant battle in the neutral zone for the first portion of the third period until freshman Tess Barrett (Tewksbury, MA/St. Mark’s) brought back the momentum to the Pioneers. Off of passes from Erica Sloan (Potsdam, NY/St. Lawrence Steel) and Stefanini, Barrett fired a backhanded sniper top shelf at the 12:56 mark as Beaven had no chance at making the save. Barrett’s goal was her second of the season and put Utica back ahead by a pair before ultimately closing the game out with a 3-1 win.
Utica played strong throughout the contest finishing the game with a 30-20 shot advantage. Stefanini led the Pioneers in points with two while Sloan, Ava Suda (Cheektowaga, NY/Buffalo Bisons), Hannah Keating (North Andover, MA/HPNA), Barrett and Staniszewski all had one point in the game. In goal, Hawthorne recorded 19 saves including 13 in the third period.
No. 14 Utica (7–1-1, 6-0-1 UCHC) will host Alvernia again at 2:30 p.m. on Saturday at the Adirondack Bank Center.
