OSWEGO, N.Y. – The No. 4 Plattsburgh State women's ice hockey team held off No. 15 Oswego State in a Northeast Women's Hockey League (NEWHL) game on Saturday afternoon at the Deborah F. Stanley Arena, prevailing by a 3-2 final to snap the Lakers' eight-game winning streak.
Plattsburgh State is ranked at No. 4 in the DCU/USCHO.com Women's Division III Top-15 Poll, while Oswego is ranked at No. 15.
Graduate student forward Nicole Unsworth (Milwaukee, Wis./East Coast Wizards) led the way with two goals, while senior goaltender Lilla Nease (Lake Forest, Calif./Anaheim Lady Ducks) made 18 stops in net. The Cardinals finished the game with a 31-20 edge in shots on goal, while the Lakers were 2-for-4 on the power play. Plattsburgh State was scoreless in four chances with the extra skater.
Plattsburgh State rises to 9-2-0 overall (7-1-0 NEWHL) with the win and opens up action at the Norwich East-West Classic on Saturday, Dec. 10, at 4 p.m. against rival Elmira College. Oswego falls to 8-4-0 overall (6-2-0 NEWHL) and has a month off from competition before entertaining Amherst College on Tuesday, Jan. 3, at 5 p.m.
After Oswego tied the game at 1-all on the power play 1:25 into the second period, the two teams remained deadlocked until Unsworth scored the go-ahead goal with 12:28 elapsed in the third. Unsworth picked up the rebound on a missed Laker shot in the Cardinals' zone and went end to end, dragging the puck across the crease before slotting in a shot low glove side.
Just 1:18 later, senior forward Julia Masotta (Tewksbury, Mass./Norwich University) scored what wound up being the game-winning goal, as junior forward Mae Olshansky (Wilmette, Ill./North American Hockey Academy) took a shot from the left circle that Masotta redirected past the Laker goaltender glove side.
Oswego cut the deficit in half with 2:12 to go in regulation, as senior defenseman Amanda Zenstein scored a power-play goal with the extra attacker. Junior forward Kensie Malone passed to Zenstein on the point, and Zenstein took advantage of traffic in the slot to score blocker side.
The Lakers pulled their goalie once again with 1:11 left, and despite taking three shots, one of which was on goal, the Cardinals held on for the win.
Unsworth fired the opening salvo at the 14:08 mark of the first period, redirecting a shot that sophomore defenseman Mattie Norton (Glen Carbon, Ill./St. Louis Lady Blues) took from the right point into the back of the net. Senior forward Ivy Boric (Newport Beach, Calif./Anaheim Lady Ducks) earned the secondary assist on the score.
Oswego took advantage of a 5-on-3 power-play opportunity early in the second period, as sophomore forward Ashlyn McGrath scored at the 1:25 mark of the frame. Sophomore defenseman Lauren Schell passed D-to-D to Zenstein, and Zenstein took a shot from the top of the left circle that Nease turned aside with a glove save. McGrath then poked in the rebound to tie the game at 1-all.
Oswego's sophomore goaltender Lexi Levy turned aside 28 shots in the loss, which included 11 saves in the third period.