WEST SPRINGFIELD, Mass. – Suffolk women's hockey traded goals with Western New England throughout the contest, but came out on the wrong side of a 3-2 decision to fall to the Golden Bears in Commonwealth Coast Conference action at the Olympia Ice Center Saturday.  

THE BASICS
SCORE: Suffolk 2 | Western New England 3
RECORDS: Suffolk (3-10-1, 2-6-1 CCC) | Western New England (6-3-2, 6-2-1 CCC)  

HOW IT HAPPENED
Western New England went ahead in the first as Allison Walker got the puck past Lily O'Neil with help from Jenna Lynch 5:28 into the contest.  

Anya Nichipor leveled the playing field 4:37 into the middle period. The freshman sniped a shot over Rieley Jessie-Gerelli's blocker side shoulder to equal matters at 1-all. Bella Schmidt helped in the game-tying goal. 

The Golden Bears regained the edge eight minutes later to send Suffolk into the second intermission down, 2-1.  

Once again, a Rams response came out of the locker room. This time Katie Newkirk locked things up. Jenna Caballero pushed a backhanded pass to the front of WNE's net where a falling Newkirk tipped the puck past the goal line to make it a 2-2 game at the 7:23 mark of the third. 

As time ticked on, WNE grabbed the upper hand once again with 2:31 remaining in regulation. 

This time, Suffolk did not have an intermission to gain its composure and rain out of time to catch up despite pulling O'Neil from her station between the pipes with just under two mintues left on the clock and testing Jessie-Gerelli with a pair of shots on target.  

NETMINDER NOTES

• O'Neil registered 27 saves in the setback. 
• Jessie-Gerelli compiled a 32-save effort in the win. 

STATISTICALLY SPEAKING

• Nichipor and Newkirk were responsible for Suffolk's goals. 
• Schmidt and Caballero dished out one assist apiece. 
• Suffolk held the edge in shots, 34-30 and faceoffs by an identical margin. 
• Neither team scored on the power play: Suffolk (0-3), WNE (0-1). 

NOTEWORTHY

• Newkirk and Nichipor each scored their second goal of the season. 
• Caballero chipped in her seventh goal of the year. 
• Schmidt supplied her second collegiate assist.  

WHAT'S NEXT?
Suffolk is on a near month break for finals and the holidays with action set to pick back up with a non-conference tune-up at Trinity Saturday, Jan. 13 at 4 p.m.