PLATTSBURGH, N.Y. – Graduate student forward Nicole Unsworth (Milwaukee, Wis./East Coast Wizards) scored two goals, including the eventual game winner, to help lift the No. 3 Plattsburgh State women's ice hockey team to a 4-3 win over Oswego State in Northeast Women's Hockey League (NEWHL) action Friday afternoon at the Ronald B. Stafford Ice Arena.
Plattsburgh State is ranked at No. 3 in the DCU/USCHO.com Women's Division III Top-15 Poll.
Down 2-0 in the first period, the Cardinals scored four unanswered goals to take a 4-2 lead. The Lakers found the back of the net with 15 seconds left but were unable to score the equalizer.
The Cardinals held a 21-20 edge in shots on goal and went 4-for-10 on the power play. The Lakers, meanwhile, were 1-for-5 with the extra attacker.
Plattsburgh State rises to 13-2-0 overall (8-1-0 NEWHL) with the win, while Oswego falls to 9-7-1 (6-3-1 NEWHL) with the loss. The two teams will finish their NEWHL series tomorrow afternoon at 3 p.m. at the Ronald B. Stafford Ice Arena.
Oswego took an early lead, as junior forward Kensie Malone scored shorthanded at 6:02 of the first period. Sophomore forward Simone Bednarik cleared the puck down the ice, and senior goaltender Lilla Nease (Lake Forest, Calif./Anaheim Lady Ducks) was forced to play the puck with the clearance being on goal. Malone gathered the rebound along the right post and scored. Senior defenseman Avery Webster also had an assist on the play.
The Lakers made it a 2-0 game at 11:47 of the first, scoring on a 5-on-3 power play. Malone won a face-off back to senior defenseman Amanda Zenstein on the right point, and Zenstein passed back and forth with senior forward Ariella Haas before Zenstein scored blocker side on a wrist shot from the high slot.
With 49.7 seconds left in the first period, junior forward Mae Olshansky (Wilmette, Ill./North American Hockey Academy) scored on the power play. Senior defenseman Sierra Benjamin (Palm Coast, Fla./Northwood School) passed back to senior forward Julia Masotta (Tewksbury, Mass./Norwich University) on the right point, and Masotta whipped a pass over to Olshansky in the left circle. Olshansky then ripped a wrist shot that beat the goaltender high glove side.
Unsworth tied the game with 9:19 elapsed in the second, scoring on the power play. Masotta passed along the right boards down low to junior forward Ciara Wall (Stoneham, Mass./University of New Hampshire), and Wall found Unsworth on the weak side. Unsworth then clapped a one-time shot past the netminder.
Benjamin scored the go-ahead goal on a 5-on-3 power play with 13:22 gone in the third. Olshansky took a shot from the right circle that was saved, and Wall backhanded the puck over to Benjamin in the left circle. Benjamin wound up and fired a one-time shot through the five-hole.
Unsworth scored what wound up being the game-winning goal on the power play at 18:05 of the third. Masotta sent a puck toward the net from the right circle that Unsworth deflected, but Oswego's goalie made a pad save. Wall touched the puck before Unsworth hammered in the rebound.
Oswego cut the deficit to one with 15 seconds left in regulation. Sophomore forward Megan Gates won an offensive-zone face-off back to first-year defenseman Rheya Zemlak, and Zemlak passed D-to-D to Webster. Webster took a shot from the left point that navigated through traffic and into the back of the net.
Benjamin and Olshansky each had a goal and an assist, while Wall and Masotta each chipped in with three assists. For Oswego, Webster and Malone each had a goal and an assist.
Nease made 17 saves in the win for the Cardinals, while sophomore goaltender Lexi Levy turned aside 17 shots in the loss for the Lakers.