FAIRFIELD, Conn. - First-year Annika Lavender (Plymouth, Minn./Wayzata) made 43 saves, including denying two penalty shots, to backstop the Saint Michael's College women's ice hockey team to a scoreless tie with Sacred Heart University during New England Women's Hockey Alliance (NEWHA) play on Saturday at Martore Family Arena.
The Purple Knights completed their regular season with the contest and will hold down the No. 7 seed in the upcoming NEWHA Tournament, visiting No. 2 Saint Anselm College for a best-of-three first-round series that begins next Friday.
RECORDS
- Saint Michael's (1-24-4, 1-19-4 NEWHA), Sacred Heart (15-16-3, 12-10-2 NEWHA)
SAINT MICHAEL'S LEADERS
- Lavender, 43 saves
- Senior Jenna Harrison (Kitchener, Ontario/Wellesley), 4 blocks, 5 faceoff wins
- Senior Maeghan Kennard (Hamlin, N.Y./Niagara Jr. Purple Eagles), 4 blocks, 9-for-16 faceoffs
- First-year Elisabeth Gerebi (Victoria, Minn./Chanhassen), 5 faceoff wins
OPPONENT LEADERS
- Sophomore Carly Greene, 13 saves
- Graduate student Delani Mackay, 16-for-25 faceoffs
GAME FACTS
- Five of the Purple Knights' past six games were decided by two goals or less, including four being determined by one or fewer, with three extending to overtime. In all, Saint Michael's has played 17 games decided by two goals or less this season.
- Lavender recorded her first collegiate shutout.
- Harrison played her 107th career game, tying former teammate Alissa Sullivan '20 for second in program history. Courtney Kelly '22, another former teammate, stands first at 108.
THE ACTION
- Lavender made 15 saves in the first period alone, when both teams went 0-for-2 on power plays. Among the netminder's saves was a denial of Mackay's penalty shot with 14:32 gone, as Lavender stuffed Mackay with her left pad.
- Saint Michael's earned all three of the second period's woman advantages but didn't score, and Lavender kept the Pioneers off the board with 10 more stops. Sacred Heart was awarded another penalty shot at 6:21, but sophomore Katie Keenan rung the right post.
- After Lavender notched another dozen saves in the third, the teams advanced to overtime.
- Around the two-minute mark in the extra session, sophomore Angelina Ruiz (Independence, Minn./Gentry Academy) had a good look in the right circle turned away by Greene, and sophomore Sydney Antonakis responded at the other end with a pair of shots, one of which Lavender denied with her blocker.
- The Pioneers went on a power play with 56 seconds left, and Antonakis had the only shot prior to the final buzzer, which Lavender stopped.
NEXT SAINT MICHAEL'S GAME
- Friday at Saint Anselm, time TBA in Game 1 of NEWHA Tournament best-of-three first-round series
