POTSDAM, N.Y. - The SUNY Potsdam women's hockey team (8-8-3, 5-3-2 NEWHL) scored four unanswered goals to defeat SUNY Cortland (9-8-3, 2-8-3 NEWHL) 4-1 on Friday night. Senior defenseman Riley Murray (Berkley, Mich./Honeybaked) and junior forward Lucy Condon (Waterloo, Ontario/Waterloo Ravens) each had a goal and an assist.
The Red Dragons came out of the gates quick. Amanda Gaffney battled for the puck along the boards with a couple of defenders in Cortland's offensive zone and set up Grace Schnorr in front of the goal crease, to give the Red Dragons a 1-0 lead 30 seconds into the game. The remainder of the period was evenly matched. After allowing the first shot, junior Alexa Pfeiffer (Sylvania, Ohio/Little Caesar's) stopped the next seven, while Chelsea Allain stopped all eight shots she faced in the first period.
Cortland kept the momentum to begin the second period, firing seven shots in the first eight minutes, however Pfeiffer managed to stop every one. A little over halfway through a Bears powerplay, senior Tatum Walber (Orchard Park, N.Y./Buffalo Regals) passed it up to the right point to Murray who then gave it up to Condon to fire it from outside the left circle and using Walber's screen, knotted the game at one halfway through the second. Two minutes later, Condon left the puck behind the net for sophomore forward Natalie Wasielewski (Carnegie, Pa./Pittsburgh Penguins Elite) as she gave junior defenseman Delphine Léonard (Anjou, Quebec/Dawson College Prep) a centering pass to beat Allain stick side, giving Potsdam a 2-1 lead. The Red Dragons took the last five shots of the period, but Pfeiffer stopped all of them to hang on to the Bears 2-1 lead entering the third.
The beginning of the final period was evenly played between both teams. Midway through the third, Murray put the Bears up 3-1 after redirecting a shot by junior defenseman Shelbi Thacker (Chesterfield, Mich./Honeybaked) from the right point. Junior forward Miranda Kolb (Watertown, N.Y./SUNY Cortland) was the other skater to assist Murray's goal. A couple minutes later, Thacker got the puck outside of her defensive zone for Walber as she passed it to sophomore forward Alexis Clark (Niagara Falls, N.Y./Buffalo Bisons) who increased the lead off a shot inside the right circle. Cortland outshot Potsdam 5-2 for the remainder of the game, but not a single shot hit the back of the net and the Bears won, 4-1.
Thacker and Walber each finished with two assists to end the night. Pfeiffer ended with 33 saves and Allain had 22 saves.
Potsdam was 1-for-2 on the power play and Cortland was 0-for-2.
The Bears are back in action tomorrow as they rematch the Red Dragons in Cortland at 2 p.m.