Re: D3 Scores and Highlights - Let the season begin!
Cards open 2nd semester with win
POTSDAM — Teal Gove scored two goals Friday afternoon and the Plattsburgh State women's hockey team opened its second semester with a 5-2 ECAC West victory over Potsdam State.
It was the second win of the season for the eighth-ranked Cardinals (9-3-1, 7-0-1), who scored two power-play goals, over the Bears (4-7-1, 2-7-1).
"We did some good things, but we still need to play better than that," Plattsburgh State coach Kevin Houle said. "It was a decent first game back for us."
The game didn't start out well for the Cardinals when Jenn Crawford put the Bears on the board with just 1:49 gone in the first period.
But Plattsburgh State, which entertains top-ranked and unbeaten RIT next weekend, rallied to take a 2-1 advantage less than a minute apart later in the first.
Allison Era, who also had two assists in the contest, tied it at 6:10 and Jordan Caldwell gave the Cardinals the lead for good at the 7:02 mark.
"We were playing pretty well, but they got on the board first," Houle said. "But, fortunately, we were able to battle back."
Gove tallied a power-play goal midway through the second period to put Plattsburgh State up, 3-1, at the 9:18 mark.
But, once again, Potsdam State scored early in a period when Jessica Silveira pulled the Bears to within 3-2 with 1:10 gone in the third.
The Cardinals, however, didn't wait long to regain their two-goal advantage when Shannon Stewart made it 4-2 with a power-play marker just two minutes later at 3:18.
Gove then added her second goal of the game with 42 seconds remaining in regulation.
"We held a one-goal or two-goal lead most of the time, but they were still getting some chances and anything can happen," Houle said. "I wouldn't say we had a safe lead until we got the three-goal lead late.
"I would have liked to seen us take better advantage of our chances."
Despite being a fairly close game on the scoreboard, the Cardinals held a 49-18 advantage in shots on goal. Plattsburgh State took 19 shots on goal in the opening period.
Sydney Aveson made 16 saves for Plattsburgh State and Jen Conophy 44 stops for the Bears.
"Potsdam moved the puck well and put pressure on at times," Houle said. "We struggled at times moving the puck out of our own end.
"But, it's something to build on and we know what we need to work on."
The Cardinals were whistled for only one penalty and the Bears for four.
"That was very good to stay out of the box," Houle said.
The holiday break was good for the Cardinals, who were able to get leading scorer Chelsea VanGlahn back in the line-up Friday. VanGlahn assisted on Caldwell's first-period goal that gave the Cardinals the lead for good.
"We're completely healthy right now and it's the first time in a while," Houle said.
This coming weekend's home games against RIT will be Friday at 7 p.m. and Saturday at 3 p.m. at the Stafford Ice Arena.