EAST BOSTON – Suffolk women's hockey closed its non-conference calendar with a 4-1 setback to No. 1 Middlebury Tuesday night at Louis E. Porrazzo Memorial Skating Rink.
THE BASICS
SCORE: Suffolk 1 | No. 1 Middlebury 4
RECORDS: Suffolk (8-11-1) | No. 1 Middlebury (15-2-1)
HOW IT HAPPENED
Middlebury potted a pair of goals in the 2:24 span gave the visitors a 2-0 upper hand with less than three minutes left in the first frame.
With less than a minute on the clock before the first intermission, Lily Abraham stole the puck from the Panthers in the Rams' own zone, took it the length of the ice and snuck it by Sophia Will to put the Rams on the scoreboard. The goal at the 19:06 mark trimmed the deficit to one, 2-1, as the teams went into the locker room for the first time.
The Panthers restored the two-goal gap 5:32 into the middle period thanks to Jordan Hower. The score stood still the rest of second stanza and Suffolk went into the break down 3-1.
A goal 26 seconds into the third period by Middlebury's Kylie Quinlan extended the distance to three, 4-1, which held true the rest of the way as Katelyn Michals the final 15 shots she faced of the contest.
NETMINDER NOTES
- Michals finished with an impressive 47 saves.
- Will logged 16 saves in the victory.
STATISTICALLY SPEAKING
- Abraham was responsible for the Rams' goal, an unassisted tally in the opening period.
- The Panthers outshot Suffolk, 51-17.
- Middlebury won the face-off battle, 31-20.
- Suffolk's defense blocked nine shots highlighted by four blocks by Leslie Steiner.
NOTEWORTHY
- Suffolk hosted Middlebury for the first time.
- The Rams tangled with the Panthers for the second time in program history, first since March 8, 2023 in the NCAA Tournament.
- Abraham scored the first-ever goal against Middlebury in program history.
- Abraham scored her second goal of the season.
- Michals produced a career-high 47 saves.
WHAT'S NEXT?
Suffolk returns to Conference of New England (CNE) action this weekend when it entertains Nichols Saturday, Feb. 8 at 6:50 p.m.