Women’s Hockey Demonstrates Depth in Win over Cortland

UTICA, NY- The Utica College women’s hockey team showed no evidence of rust as it downed visiting SUNY Cortland 5-2 in exhibition play Thursday evening.  Five different players scored for the Pioneers and 10 different players registered at least one point. 

 

Utica wasted little time getting going as it netted three goals in the first period.  The Pioneers opened the scoring at 4:12 when Georgiana Santullo (Woburn, MA/Boston Shamrocks/Woburn High School) put in a feed from Carolyn Whitney (Raleigh, NC/Milbrook School).  Just 4:36 later, Santullo returned the favor as she set up Whitney for the score.  Ava Suda (Cheektowaga, NY/Buffalo Bisons) picked up the secondary assist on the insurance tally.

 

Cortland struck back at 16:12 when Mia Hlasnick fired a puck over the shoulder of Utica goalie Savannah Gutierrez (Huntington Beach, CA/Anaheim Lady Ducks) to cut the lead in half.  Lindsay Reyes and Emily Kromer were credited with assists on the powerplay tally.

 

UC went back on top by two with just 23 seconds remaining in the first period as Madison Novotny’s (Wesley Chapel, FL/Northwood School) shot from the point found its way through traffic to make it 3-1 in favor of the home team.  Rebecca Brown (Steamboat Springs, CO/Norwich University) had the primary assist, while sophomore transfer Brooke Hubert (Oceanside, NY/Minnesota State University- Mankato) picked up her first point in a Pioneer uniform as she dished out the secondary assist.

 

Each team found the back of the net once in the second period, with Utica’s score coming at 13:11 when sophomore Hailey Modlin (Phoenix, AZ/Boston Shamrocks) netted a powerplay tally off assists by Novotny and Carly Stefanini (Framingham, MA/Brooks School).

 

The Red Dragons struck again at 18:26 when Elena Eichmann swung at a loose puck from the corner that somehow found its way under the crossbar to make the score 4-2 Utica.

 

Junior Erica Sloan (Potsdam, NY/St. Lawrence Steel) capped off the scoring at 7:37 of the third as she fired a shot in off a faceoff.  Maggie Rylott (Cobourg, Ontario/West Northumberland) won the draw cleanly back to Sloan who buried it on the short side.  Despite Utica leading 5-2 at the end of regulation, the teams played an extra 5-minute overtime period to practice the new 3-on-3 overtime rules. 

 

Each team traded chances in the extra frame, but it was the game’s opening scorer who sealed the deal with just 1.3 seconds remaining.  Senior Sirena Fitzery (Hamburg, NY/Buffalo Bisons) made a nice play in the defensive zone to steal a puck off an attacking player.  Fitzery then flipped the puck off the glass and down the ice, to seemingly let the clock run out. However, a streaking Santullo came out of nowhere and corralled the loose puck, then cut towards the net and slid it between the goalie’s legs for her second of the day.

 

Utica goalies Angela Hawthorne (Santa Clara, CA/Meijer) and Savannah Gutierrez (Huntington Beach, CA/Anaheim Lady Ducks) combined for 25 saves in regulation, with Hawthorne turning aside three shots in overtime.  Cortland’s goalies Emily Steen, Anna Hamid, and Molly Goergen each saw one period of action and combined for 28 saves in the loss.

 

Utica will have one more exhibition tune-up on Saturday as it travels to Norwich university.  Game time is 3 p.m.  The Pioneers open the regular season next Saturday at home against perennial rival, Elmira College.