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Plattsburgh State 2010

Re: Plattsburgh State 2010

February 20, 2011

Cardinals hang on to edge Utica
COURTNEY LEWIS
Press-Republican Plattsburgh Press Republican Sun Feb 20, 2011, 02:23 AM EST

PLATTSBURGH — The Cardinals played a solid game Saturday — for about 57 minutes.

The last few could be described by a familiar refrain: Not enough poise.

Utica scored with 1:03 to play to make it nerve-wracking, but Plattsburgh State hung on for a 3-2 ECAC West women's hockey victory at Stafford Ice Arena.

"I thought it was a really good effort," Plattsburgh State coach Kevin Houle said. "I thought their goalie played tremendous in the third period, and throughout the game really.

"So, yeah, I was pleased with our effort, our scoring opportunities. I wasn't pleased with the last few minutes of the game."

Plattsburgh State (18-3-3, 14-1-2 ECACW) did not get the help it needed from Elmira Saturday. Because RIT beat the Soaring Eagles, the best the Cardinals can do is tie for first place in the conference.

RIT owns the tiebreaker and will host the ECAC West tournament semifinals and final. The Cardinals will be seeded second and have a first-round bye.

Plattsburgh State finishes the regular season against Utica this afternoon.

Megan DiJulio scored the Cardinals' first two goals Saturday, and Steph Moon added another.

The Cardinals took a 3-1 lead into the third period.

Utica (12-12, 8-9) called a timeout with four minutes left and started putting on sustained pressure with about 2:30 to go. Mandy Mackrell made four pad saves on one possession.

"I thought the last six or seven minutes of the game, Mandy really did a great job for them," Utica coach Dave Clausen said. "We had some good shots from the right players on our team to be shooting. And she got a couple pads on pucks and did a good job down the stretch."

Clausen said the Pioneers took some defensive risks at the end, and it paid off. They pulled their goalie at 1:41, and Megan Myers' hard shot from the left circle beat Mackrell.

The Cardinals kept the puck out of the net after that, but giving up good scoring opportunities in the waning minutes has been a problem in other games this season, too, and Houle said they need to be better in crunch time.

"They made a good play on the goal at the end, but the fact of the matter was the puck shouldn't have been in our zone," Houle said. "We had opportunities to get pucks out and we didn't. There were easy plays to be made, and we didn't make them. And that led to their goal."

Mackrell totaled 29 saves, and Utica's Marissa Hotaling had 41.

DiJulio skated into the zone and fired a slapper that found the top left corner for a 1-0 lead 4:27 into the game. Early in the second period, she fell in front of the Utica net but was still able to poke in a loose puck.

Clausen said the Pioneers had careless miscues on both goals — a giveaway on the first and a bad change before the second.

They answered right after the second goal, though, when Myers notched a quick power-play marker.

Moon restored the Cardinals' 2-goal lead at 5:35, and DiJulio earned an assist for her third point of the game.

DiJulio has six goals in her last six games after totaling five in the first 18 games of the season.

"I thought DiJulio had a great game," Clausen said. "You just really noticed every time she was on the ice with the puck. Her speed, her size, her strength, she's just real hard to defend. So (today) we're going to have to figure out a way to deal with her."
 
Re: Plattsburgh State 2010

Looks like the Cards have a couple of recruits listed so far. PSU has some pretty big holes to fill next season.

Shannon Stewart a forward from Pickering Ontario will join the Cards via the Durham Lightning.
Kelsey MacIssac a defensewomen from Durham New Hampshire will join the Cards via the Boston Shamrocks.
 
Re: Plattsburgh State 2010

R.I.T. sport szone will web cast the Ladies final on Sunday; but no mention of the semifinals
 
Re: Plattsburgh State 2010

March 5, 2011

Cardinals hungry for ECAC West title
COURTNEY LEWIS
Press-Republican Plattsburgh Press Republican Sat Mar 05, 2011, 02:23 AM EST

A couple of Plattsburgh State seniors said that, compared to past seasons, there's a different feeling around the women's hockey team as it heads into the playoffs.

The Cardinals are trying to turn that into a different result at the ECAC West tournament. The seniors have played in the championship game three times and have never come out with a title.

To get another shot at the championship, they first have to get past Neumann today.

No. 2 seed Plattsburgh State faces the fourth-seeded Knights in the second semifinal at RIT's Ritter Arena. No. 1 RIT will meet No. 6 Utica in the first game, and the winners are set to clash Sunday. The conference champion receives an automatic NCAA Division III tournament bid.

Coach Kevin Houle said the Cardinals (19-3-3), especially the eight seniors, are hungry for a conference championship.

"The girls are talking about it more than ever," Houle said. "Obviously if you're a senior ... you haven't won it in your three years here, even though we won a national championship in 2008. It's certainly motivation.

"But we've gotta worry about Neumann University first and foremost."

The Knights (16-6-4) beat Oswego 2-1 in double overtime in last week's quarterfinals.

They were easily swept by both Plattsburgh State and RIT early in the season. But they enter this weekend on a 10-game unbeaten streak that began with a Jan. 22 tie against Elmira. They've lost just twice in the second semester.

Jessica Schroeder leads Neumann with 13 goals and 30 points, and Niki Blazenko is next with a 10-10-20 scoring line.

Sophomore Shannon Donnelly is 13-4-4 in net with a .943 save percentage. Defenseman Kayla Dubowski, who's fourth in scoring, was a Second Team All-ECAC West selection.

"From top to bottom, they're certainly a solid team, and the higher-end kids are very skilled," Houle said. "So they can score goals. And the goalie's played well for them this year."

Along with RIT, Plattsburgh State received a bye into the semifinals, and both Houle and senior Helen Giroux said it's been a long two weeks since the last game. The Cardinals ended the regular season with four straight wins and felt they were playing at a high level. Giroux said she doesn't think the week off took anything away from that.

"I definitely think we have kept momentum going," she said. "We all remember how we finished, and no one wants to come down from there."

The Cardinals' last ECAC West tournament championship was in 2007. They fell to Elmira in the last three title games.

Elmira won't be in their way this time — the Soaring Eagles were upset by Utica last week — and Giroux and fellow senior Megan DiJulio both said that's not the only thing that's different.

"I think this year I do feel a completely different atmosphere," DiJulio said. "And I think we're going to go into the playoffs strong this year, so I'm really looking forward to it."
 
Re: Plattsburgh State 2010

Cardinals advance to ECAC West championship game

PSU edges Neumann in ECAC West semis

COURTNEY LEWIS
Press-Republican Plattsburgh Press Republican Sun Mar 06, 2011, 02:23 AM EST

ROCHESTER — After Neumann took a penalty with 5:40 left in a game that was tied 1-1, a Plattsburgh State shot sat on the goal line and no one could get there to push the puck over.

So when the Cardinals got another power play with 2:52 to go, they knew they had to take advantage.

"We kinda let the first one slide by a little," senior Steph Moon said. "So basically it was, 'Let's make sure we cash in and make them pay for what they're doing.'"

The Cardinals made the penalty plenty costly for the Knights.

Moon batted in a rebound with 2:09 on the clock and Plattsburgh State held on for a 2-1 ECAC West semifinal victory in women's hockey Saturday at Ritter Arena.

The second-seeded Cardinals (20-3-3) will face No. 1 seed RIT in today's final, and the winner earns an automatic berth in the NCAA Division III tournament. RIT reached the championship game for the first time by holding off No. 6 seed Utica 2-0 in the day's first game.

Plattsburgh State's Mandy Mackrell made 17 saves against Neumann, and Teal Gove netted a first-period goal.

The Cardinals outshot the Knights by a wide margin in the last two periods and carried the play much of the time, but they had trouble getting the puck to go in.

"I thought we played a solid game from start to finish," Plattsburgh State coach Kevin Houle said. "I give Neumann credit. They did a good job around their net and didn't give us a ton of opportunities in the second and third. And their goalie played well."

Plattsburgh State finished with a 41-18 advantage in shots.

Although the Cardinals put on plenty of pressure in the second, it was the fourth-seeded Knights (16-7-4) who scored. Jasper Thomson tied it at 17:07 with an unassisted goal.

Moon said the Cardinals weren't rattled after losing their lead.

"We just basically, after the second, made sure we weren't down in the locker room," she said. "It was no big deal to us (that) it was a tie game. We knew we'd be able to handle it."

Not long after the Knights committed their second late-game tripping penalty, Kristen Bond fired a shot from the point that hit someone in front and bounced into the air, and Moon knocked it in the net on its way down.

The Knights appeared to argue that there was a high stick, but Moon said she connected with the puck at waist level and was confident the goal would count.

Houle credited Bond with faking a shot and finding a clear lane to make sure the puck made it through to the front of the net. Amber Welch earned the other assist.

Neumann pulled goaltender Shannon Donnelly at the end but didn't have any great chances to tie it.

Donnelly finished with 39 saves.

Houle said the Cardinals were jittery early in the game. But they ended the first period with a 1-0 lead after Gove came in alone with just over three minutes left and beat Donnelly.

RIT survived another close one. Kourtney Kunichika tipped in Danielle Read's shot from the left point with just 15 seconds left in the first period to give RIT a 1-0 lead. The score stayed there until Sarah Dagg's empty-netter in the final minute of the game.

Laura Chamberlain made 19 saves for the shutout.

The Tigers and Cardinals skated to 2-2 and 0-0 ties in their Jan. 21-22 regular-season series at Ritter.

Houle said Plattsburgh State needs to play with energy against the Tigers and play well in the defensive end, and he added that special teams will also be key.

"They're a great hockey team. They're going to come at us hard, and we have to be ready for them.

"It's going to be a lot of fun to play."
 
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