Statistics
BIDDEFORD, Maine -- Jo Wilmer scored on a breakaway in overtime to lift No.15 Endicott College past the University of New England, 2-1, in the Conference of New England (CNE) women's ice hockey opener on Friday night (Nov. 6) at the Harold Alfond Forum.
The Gulls (2-0, 1-0 CNE) trailed for more than two periods of action before tying things up with 3:10 left in regulation, and then netted the deciding tally with 24 seconds gone in the extra session. After UNE fanned on a 2-on-1 chance, Lilly Corso collected the loose puck and hit Julia Carrigan with an outlet that led to a 2-on-0 the other way. Carrigan passed it left to Wilmer, who snapped it into the near side.
The equalizer for Endicott came from Chloe Pittinaro, skating down the left side and stuffing in her third shot of the sequence.
Between the pipes for the Nor'easters (1-2, 0-1),
Kyleigh Matola made 36 of her 46 saves with the lead, which lasted almost 43 minutes. Three of Matola's four highest save totals during her rookie campaign occurred in games against the Gulls (48, 41, 38).
The hosts took the advantage just five seconds into their first power play in the 1st period, as a wrist shot by defenseman
Lilly Ratliff from the blue line found its way through a screen with 6:01 on the clock.
Lucey Jean won the faceoff back to
Madeline Hill along the boards, who then centered it to Ratliff for her first collegiate goal.
Despite the setback, UNE head coach
Cassandra Sherman saw many positives from the performance.
"Tonight was a great example of our team coming together, buying into the game plan, and competing against a really strong Endicott team. The coaching staff is extremely proud of the way this group supported one another and continued to battle throughout the game. Matola was busy and had another standout performance, and the team showed tremendous commitment in our own zone, coming up with some huge blocked shots. Good on Ratliff, too, for picking her spot with a heads-up shot from the point to get us the lead."
UNE killed off both EC power plays -- abour 90 seconds worth in the 1st, and a full two minutes in the 3rd -- without allowing a shot to make it through to Matola. The Nor'easters notched 16 blocked shots in the contest, of which
Mackenzie O'Leary had five.
Lauren Ferrari turned away 18 shots for the Gulls, who will host UNE at 5 p.m. on Saturday.
