PLYMOUTH, N.H. – A Plymouth State power play goal with less than five minutes remaining broke a 2-all tie and proved to be the difference as Suffolk women's hockey could not rally and fell to the Panthers, 3-2, Saturday afternoon in its regular-season closer at Hanaway Rink.
THE BASICS
SCORE: Suffolk 2 | Plymouth State 3
RECORDS: Suffolk (15-8-2, 10-4-2 NEHC) | Plymouth State (7-14-4, 5-7-4 NEHC)
HOW IT HAPPENED
With just 4.9 seconds left in the opening period the Panthers got on the board as Marykate Thompson sent a deep shot from behind the hash marks over Kristen Caporusso's blocker to give the hosts a one-goal lead.
Suffolk made up the ground 3:06 into the middle period when Jesse Kennedy put away a feed from Sydney Tietz. PSU responded 3:15 later to regain the one-goal margin as Alexis Fagan caught Caporusso off guard.
Trailing 2-1 after two periods, Tietz equalized the game at 2-all at the midway point of the final frame. Despite Suffolk commanding the offense, the Panthers had a man-up opportunity with just over five minutes to go and took advantage as Caitlin Conner potted what would be the game-winning go on the power play at the 14:21 minute mark.
The Rams looked to make up ground once again, but the Panthers defense backed up Emelie Lindqvist in net even with the extra skater of the final 53 seconds to hold on for the 3-2 league win.
NETMINDER NOTES
- Caporusso recorded a 24-save effort.
- Lindqvist put together a 41-stop performance.
STATISTICALLY SPEAKING
- Tietz had a two-point night with one goal and one helper.
- Kennedy scored one goal for Suffolk.
- Natasha Savage dished out one assist.
- Suffolk commanded the shots 43-27.
- The Panthers won the battle in the face-off dot 28-26.
NOTEWORTHY
- Tietz posted her first multi-point outing of her collegiate career.
- Savage recorded her first collegiate point.
- Kennedy has tallied one assist in back-to-back outings.
- Tietz is on a two-game point streak. Over the pair of games she has racked up three points on one marker and two helpers.
POST-GAME PIC
WHAT'S AHEAD?
Suffolk looks forward to the upcoming New England Hockey Conference tournament. The official bracket of the tournament will be released tomorrow, Sunday, Feb. 10. Quarterfinals action is set to take place Saturday, Feb. 9.