SOUTH BURLINGTON, Vt. - The Saint Michael's College women's ice hockey team lost to Stonehill College, 3-1, on Friday evening at Cairns Arena to begin a New England Women's Hockey Alliance (NEWHA) weekend series.
RECORDS
- Saint Michael's (1-22-3, 1-17-3 NEWHA), Stonehill (16-14-2, 13-9-1 NEWHA)
SAINT MICHAEL'S LEADERS
- Junior Carissa Mudrak (Duluth, Minn./Gentry Academy), 43 saves
- Junior Mikaela Langbacka (Lorton, Va./Washington Pride), 1 goal
- Junior Mary Leys (Newport, R.I./Saint George's School), 1 assist
- Junior Darby Rich (Melrose, Mass./Tilton School), 1 assist
- Sophomore Gaby Tribelli (Montreal, Quebec/Dawson College), 3 blocks
OPPONENT LEADERS
- First-year Lily Geist, 1 goal
- First-year Kathryn Karo, 1 goal
- First-year Brianna Walkom, 1 goal
- First-year Eve Stone, 18 saves
GAME FACTS
- Mudrak passed Melanie Cullen '09 (736 in 2007-08) to take over fifth in program history with 778 saves this season. She is 12 short of Nicole Talcott '19 (790 in 2017-18) for fourth.
THE ACTION
- Stonehill scored twice in the opening 9:15 of the contest. Walkom chipped a puck through the low slot beyond a Purple Knight before retrieving her own pass and knocking in a shot under pressure near the left post at 5:05. Geist one-timed home first-year Lucie Turcotte's pass into the slot 4:10 later for a power-play strike.
- After yielding two goals on her first three shots faced, Mudrak yielded one on the final 43. She kept it 2-0 with a standout save at 11:00, moving to the far post to smother junior Paige Whaley's one-timer.
- Sophomore Angelina Ruiz (Independence, Minn./Gentry Academy) nearly got on the board at 12:55, rushing on a breakaway toward Stone, who read her move out front and made a pad save.
- The Purple Knights halved the deficit 43 seconds later. Rich's dump into the middle of the ice was blocked by a Skyhawk, and Leys had an initial shot out front denied by Stone before Langbacka batted in the rebound.
- Karo extended the lead 3:54 into the second period, corralling a loose puck before roofing a shot from the top of the crease during a power play.
- Late in the frame, the Purple Knights peppered the Stonehill netminder early during a woman advantage, but first-years Elisabeth Gerebi (Victoria, Minn./Chanhassen) and Libby Kamp (Bloomington, Minn./Holy Family Catholic) and senior Jenna Harrison (Kitchener, Ontario/Wellesley) all had bids turned away.
- Mudrak made another stellar denial early in the third period, turning away first-year Mia Kenmore's breakaway bid with her blocker with 1:50 gone.
NEXT SAINT MICHAEL'S GAME
- Saturday vs. Stonehill, 4 p.m.
- The Purple Knights will celebrate Senior Day with a pregame ceremony.
