PLATTSBURGH, N.Y. — No. 1 seed Plattsburgh State women's ice hockey advanced to the championship game of the Northeast Women's Hockey League (NEWHL) Tournament with a 3-0 shut-out victory over No. 4 seed SUNY Cortland in a NEWL Tournament semifinal game on Saturday afternoon at the Ronald B. Stafford Ice Arena.

With the victory, Plattsburgh State (25-1-0) advances to the NEWL Tournament championship game to face the winner of the semifinal matchup between No. 2 seed Oswego State and No. 3 seed Morrisville State at 3 p.m. on Saturday, March 7, at the Ronald B. Stafford Ice Arena. With the loss, Cortland (14-10-2) is eliminated from the NEWHL Tournament. 

Plattsburgh State outshot Cortland, 11-6, in the first period of play, but the game remained scoreless going into the first intermission. 

In the second period, Plattsburgh State controlled the game. The Cardinals outshot the Red Dragons, 14-3, and scored the only goal of the period to take a 1-0 lead into the second intermission.

After a couple of Cardinal shots were saved and blocked, junior forward Abby Brush (Mount Prospect, Ill./Chicago Young Americans) got to the loose puck in front of the net and chipped in a shot past Cortland's goaltender Chelsea Allain (10-10-2) for her 12th goal of the season. The goal, which was scored at 7:58 of the second period, would end up being Brush's fourth game-winning goal of the season. Assisting on the play were junior forward and alternate captain Annie Katonka and sophomore forward Sara Krauseneck (Saginaw, Mich./Northern Cyclones). 

The Cardinals would continue to apply offensive pressure in the third period and scored two more goals to complete the 3-0 shutout of Cortland.

Plattsburgh State, which has the third-most efficient power play in NCAA Division III women's ice hockey at 27.7 percent, took advantage of a power-play opportunity to make the score 2-0 at 7:01 of the third period. Katonka tallied her 20th goal — her ninth power-play goal — of the season with the assists credited to junior defenseman and team captain Erin McArdle (Macomb, Mich./Belle Tire) and Krauseneck. An initial wrist shot taken from near the bottom of the right circle by McArdle was saved, but Katonka knocked in the rebound from in front of the net for the goal. McArdle's assist was her 20th of the season. Katonka reached 40 points on the season as she has 20 goals and 20 assists in 2019-20.   

Sophomore defenseman Sierra Benjamin (Palm Coast, Fla./Northwood School) scored the final goal of the game at 13:26 of the third period to make the score 3-0 in favor of Plattsburgh State. Benjamin took a wrist shot from near the bottom of the right circle that looked like it was going to be stopped, but the puck found its way behind the goaltender and over the goal line. Sophomore defenseman Hanna Rose (Chaumont, N.Y./Northwood School) tallied the assist on Benjamin's second goal of the season. 

Plattsburgh State's defense limited Cortland to 16 shots on goal on the day, while Plattsburgh State tallied 41.   

Sophomore netminder Ashley Davis (Winterville, N.C./Northwood School) made 16 saves to improve to 18-0-0 and record her sixth shutout of the season for Plattsburgh State. Allain made 38 stops in goal for Cortland. 

Plattsburgh State finished 1-of-3 on the power play, while holding Cortland to 0-of-2. The Cardinal's lead NCAA Division III women's ice hockey in penalty-kill efficiency at 98.0 percent.