POTSDAM, N.Y. – The No. 1/2 Plattsburgh State women's ice hockey team locked up the No. 1 seed in the Northeast Women's Hockey League (NEWHL) Tournament by defeating SUNY Potsdam, 4-0, on Saturday afternoon at Maxcy Ice Arena in NEWHL action. The Cardinals will host the No. 4 seed, who has yet to be determined, in the semifinal round of the NEWHL Tournament on Saturday, Feb. 24.
Plattsburgh State is ranked at No. 1 in the D3hockey.com Women's Top-10 Poll and No. 2 in the USCHO.com Women's Division III Top-10 Poll.
The Cardinals dictated the tempo of the game from the opening puck drop, outshooting the Bears by a 44-12 margin. Both teams were scoreless on the power play, with Plattsburgh State going 0-for-3 with the extra attacker and Potsdam going 0-for-1.
Junior forward Courtney Moriarty (Estero, Fla./Northfield Mount Hermon) scored twice to extend her NEWHL lead in goals to 21. Moriarty netted her NCAA Division III-leading 10th game-winning goal of the season.
Plattsburgh State rises to 18-2-2 overall (12-0-1 NEWHL) with the win, while Potsdam drops to 11-9-2 overall (3-8-2 NEWHL) with the loss. The two teams complete the series tomorrow afternoon at 3 p.m at the Ronald B. Stafford Ice Arena.
Moriarty put the Cardinals on the board 2:40 in the first period. Junior forward Mackenzie Millen (Anchorage, Alaska/North American Hockey Academy) won an offensive-zone face-off and got the puck immediately to Moriarty. Moriarty skated from the left corner to the high slot and uncorked a shot past a screened Potsdam goalie.
Freshman forward Annie Katonka (Pittsburgh, Pa./Pittsburgh Pens Elite) made it a 2-0 game with 7:18 gone in the first with her seventh goal of the season. She got free along the right boards, walked into the zone and rang the crossbar over the goaltender's left shoulder. Freshman forward Abby Brush (Mount Prospect, Ill./Chicago Young Americans) and junior defenseman Maci Hoskins (Oklahoma City, Okla./Northwood School) earned assists on the play.
Just 25 seconds before the first intermission, Moriarty netted her second goal of the game. On a play that was nearly a carbon copy of her first goal, Millen won an offensive-zone face-off in the left circle, picked up a loose puck and fed Moriarty. Moriarty once again looped around to the high slot and buried a shot into the left corner of the goal.
Brush rounded out the scoring in the game by finding twine just 2:04 into the second period. She knocked home a deflected shot from the left point at the right side of the net, and freshman forward Madison Walker (Denver, Colo./Lansing Spartans) and junior defenseman Baye Flanagan (Billerica, Mass./Merrimack College) earned assists on the score.
The third period proved mostly uneventful, with no scoring and just one penalty during the stanza.
Junior goaltender Kassi Abbott (Medford, Mass./Boston Shamrocks Elite) earned her seventh shutout of the season—which puts her in a tie for second in Division III—in a 12-save outing. Freshman goaltender Samantha White took the loss for Potsdam, making 16 stops in 22:04 of action before sophomore goaltender Kayla McCabe turned side 24 stops in 37:56 of relief.