EASTBOSTON – Madison Ricardo provided a two-goal performance to anchor Suffolk women's hockey to a 3-2 victory over Southern Maine Friday night at Lousi E. Porrazzo Memorial Rink.
THE BASICS
SCORE: Suffolk 3 | Southern Maine 2
RECORDS: Suffolk (4-8-2, 4-3-1 NEHC) | Southern Maine (4-8-0, 3-5-0 NEHC)
HOW IT HAPPENED
Southern Maine scored first less than eight minutes into the first frame. Rylie Binnette made the most of the Huskies first and only shot of the first 20 minutes when she picked off the pass, skated into Suffolk's zone and scored in the bottom left corner.
Ten minutes later, the Rams responded when Ricardo put away her first of the night. Meagan MacNeil received a pass from Jesse Kennedy, skated towards the net and dropped the puck for Ricardo, who was trailing. The freshman put the puck blocker side and her first collegiate goal leveled the playing field at 1-all with 1:32 remaining in the opening period.
With just under four minutes to play in the second stanza, Kennedy took the puck into USM's zone, sent a pass to the front of the crease, which pulled Whitney Padgett to the opposite of the net. Ricardo arrived on the backside when xxx slide over and punched the puck in. The eventual game winner came at the 16:45 minute mark of the second.
Suffolk stretched its advantage to a pair of goals with 16:17 elapsed in the final frame. Shana Cote won the puck in the corner found Emily Johnston in the slot and the sophomore tripped up Padgett to make it a 3-1 Rams' game.
The Huskies trimmed the deficit down to one on the power play with less than a minute remaining in regulation when Katie Nolan dished to Amanda Piknick on the left side and Piknick beat Julia McLellan block side to pull USM within one, 3-2.
The visitors used a timeout after Piknick's marker and pulled Padgett from the pipes for the extra skater boost. The Huskies two final attempts went wide and were blocked by the blue-and-gold defense and the game ended in Suffolk's favor, 3-2.
NETMINDER NOTES
- McLellan secured 11 stops for the victory.
- Padgett kept USM in the game with a 40-save performance.
STATISTICALLY SPEAKING
- Ricardo led Suffolk's score with two goals to her credit with Johnston responsible for the other strike.
- Kennedy registered two helpers with Cote and MacNeil each dishing out one.
- Suffolk out Southern Maine, 43-13, and edged out the Huskies in face offs, 23-21.
NOTEWORTHY
- Suffolk remains unbeaten all-time against Southern Maine.
- The Rams improved to 2-0-1 versus the Huskies, defeating USM for the second time in the all-time series, first since Dec. 1, 2018.
- Ricardo, who recorded her first collegiate goal, finished with a two-goal effort. The two points are a career-high for the freshman.
- MacNeil, who is on two-game point streak, matched a personal-best one assist.
- Kennedy matched a career-high two-assist performance.
- Suffolk strung together back-to-back wins together for the first time this season.
POST-GAME PIC
COMING UP
Suffolk concludes first semester tomorrow, Saturday, Dec. 14 when New England stops by Louis E. Porrazzo Memorial Rink for a 5:30 p.m. puck drop.