Sacred Heart
8-9-2
William Smith
6-10-2
Cleary Nets First Career Collegiate Goal in Loss to William Smith
1/29/2016 12:00:00 AM | Women's Ice Hockey
SHELTON, Conn. – A 40-26 shot advantage for the Sacred Heart women's ice hockey team was not enough to beat opposing goaltender Laurel Brown and the William Smith Herons in a 4-1 loss at the Sports Center of Connecticut on Friday night. The loss drops the Pioneers back below .500 at 8-9-2.
After two William Smith first period goals, SHU decided to switch goalies at intermission and it paid dividends right away. Moments after newly inserted Amanda Fontaine made a point blank glove save, SHU cut the deficit in half 3:36 out of the locker room. Haley Payne's pass from behind the net found Lilly Cleary right in front and the freshman one-timed it in for her first career collegiate goal.
Any momentum was short lived though, as William Smith pushed its lead back to two, taking advantage of a SHU turnover just over five minutes later. Emily Burton found Krista Federow on the edge of the left circle and she wristed home to go up 3-1 at the 12:45 mark of the second. The Pioneers had plenty of opportunities to cut the deficit back to one, totaling 16 shots in the period, including the final seven, but time after time Brown denied each chance.
After an even first period in which Sacred Heart had just an 11-9 edge in shots, the Pioneers outshot William Smith 29-17 over the last 40 minutes. Brown was forced to 39 stops to help the Herons to the victory. Nicole Magee made seven saves in the first before Fontaine came on to record the final 15. In a game with only four penalties, WS converted one of its three while the SHU went 0-1.
Maura Mulligan played a part in both first period goals, first beating Magee with a close range wrister 7:45 into the contest. She then beautifully set up Rebecca Begley for the second William Smith goal just nine seconds after the beginning of the team's second power play. Following a faceoff win, Hedi Droste found Mulligan in the center of the zone with a pass from the right circle. Mulligan immediately redirected the pass to Begley, who was waiting in on the right side of the net for an easy tap in.
Sacred Heart will look to salvage a split tomorrow as the two teams face off at 2 pm at the Sports Center of Connecticut.
