NORTHFIELD, Vt. — Graduate student forward Annie Katonka (Pittsburgh, Pa./Pittsburgh Penguins Elite) tallied a hat trick to propel No. 4 Plattsburgh State women's ice hockey to a 4-3 victory over No. 3 Elmira College in a non-conference game as part of the Northfield Savings Bank East-West Hockey Classic on Saturday night at Norwich University's Kreitzberg Arena. 

Plattsburgh State (9-2-0), which picked up its third consecutive victory, plays No. 10 Norwich in the Northfield Savings Bank East-West Hockey Classic championship game tomorrow at 4 p.m. Elmira (10-2-0) faces No. 8 Adrian College in the tournament consolation game tomorrow at 1 p.m.

With her hat trick, Katonka moved into 10th place in program history for career points (135). She passed Stephanie Moberg ('10), who tallied 133 points in her Cardinal career. Katonka's 75 career goals are the eighth most in program history.

Plattsburgh State and Elmira each scored twice in the second period to make the score 2-2 after one period of play.

After Plattsburgh State controlled play early on but was unable to score, Elmira took a 1-0 lead at 9:36 of the first period. Junior forward Holley Riva scored on a screened wrist shot from the high slot that beat the goaltender high on the blocker side. Senior defenseman Jenny Heath and senior defenseman Sydney Harris tallied the assists.

Less than a minute later, Plattsburgh State responded to tie the game at 1-1. Junior defenseman Kendall Wasik (Novi, Mich./HoneyBaked) scored her first career goal on a wrist shot from the right point that found its way past a screened goaltender at the 10:23 mark. Junior forward Tatem Cheney (Ottawa, Ontario/Ottawa Lady 67's) and sophomore forward Rivers Morris (Braintree, Mass./Thayer Academy) recorded the assists.

Just over 30 seconds later, Elmira responded with a goal to take a 2-1 lead at 10:55 of the first period. Senior forward Eliza Beaudin got a pass in the slot and backhanded a shot over the right shoulder of the Plattsburgh State goaltender. Senior forward Morgan Mordini and sophomore defenseman Lexi Hoffmann recorded the assists. 

With under one minute to play in the first period and on the power play, Katonka got to a rebound in front of the net and quickly knocked the puck past the goaltender to tie the game at 2-2. First-year defenseman Mattie Norton (Glen Carbon, Ill./St. Louis Lady Blues) and senior forward Sara Krauseneck (Saginaw, Mich./Northern Cyclones) were credited with the assists on the goal at the 19:12 mark.

After neither team scored in the second period, Plattsburgh State outscored Elmira, 2-1, in the third period to secure the 4-3 victory.

At 3:10 of the third period, Beaudin scored her second goal of the game to put Elmira in front, 3-2. An initial shot was saved by the goaltender, but Beaudin scored on a rebound opportunity. Mordini and first-year forward Claire Elfring assisted on the play. 

Katonka tied the game at 3-3 with her second goal of the game on the power play at 7:40 of the third period. In front of the net, Katonka received a pass from graduate student defenseman Erin McArdle (Macomb, Mich./Belle Tire) and lifted a backhand over the goaltender for the goal. 

The score remained 3-3 until 18:25 of the third period when Katonka scored a shorthanded goal to complete the hat trick and give the Cardinals a 4-3 lead. After McArdle fired the puck out of the Plattsburgh State defensive zone, Katonka took possession of the puck from an Elmira player near the Elmira blue line. Katonka skated in all alone and scored with a wrist shot high on the glove side.  

The Cardinals held on for the 4-3 victory.

Junior goaltender Chloe Beaubien (Colorado Springs, Colo./Ontario Hockey Academy), who came into the game in relief of senior netminder Ashley Davis (Winterville, N.C./Northwood School), made 29 saves and allowed one goal over 49:05 played to improve her record to 2-0-0 on the season. Davis, who started the game, allowed two goals and made three saves in 10:55 played.  

First-year goaltender Leoni-Louise Kuehberger (7-2-0) made 34 saves for Elmira.

Plattsburgh State finished 2-of-5 on the power play and successfully killed off six Elmira power plays.

Shots were 38-35 in favor of Plattsburgh State.