Sacred Heart
11-12-2
Neumann
5-16-1
Third-Period Rally Comes Up Short Against Neumann
2/12/2016 12:00:00 AM | Women's Ice Hockey
SHELTON, CT – The Sacred Heart University Women's ice hockey team fell short against the Neumann Knights in a 4-2 loss on Friday night at The Sports Center of Connecticut. The comeback began early in the third period on Taylor Moreland's 11th goal of the season, and freshman Savannah Hersey's first career tally, but the rally was stopped with just under a minute left in the game.
Sacred Heart (11-12-2) dominated the offensive chances in the early going of the first period. After shooting it off the boards and into the zone, senior Hanna Skelley found Taylor Moreland on the right side of Neumann (5-16-1) goalie Julia Fair for a one-timer, but the sophomore was unable to convert early on.
Senior goalie Nicole Magee faced pressure in the second half of the opening period but stood tall including a brilliant diving save on an Ashley Langdon shot off a rebound from an equally strong glove save on forward Bek Lucas. She followed it up with a glove save on a charging Grace Klienbach who got free in the middle of the Pioneers' defense to fire a wrister.
Freshman Lily Cleary had two chances to break the game open just minutes into the second period, after she followed up the rebound from her own shot with a backhander right in front of the net. Soon after, SHU got their first power play chance of the game but even with five shots on goal the Pioneers could not find the back of the net.
The Pioneers tied it with less than two minutes gone in the third period after Moreland knocked a rebound past Fair for her 11th goal of the season. Megan Ofner and Megan Finlay each earned an assist on the goal. Neumann didn't waste time taking the lead back when Lukas scored her second of the game 50 seconds after losing the lead. Donna Williams found Lukas in the middle of the Sacred Heart defense, where Lukas was again able to beat Magee glove side. Lukas would complete the hat-trick for Neumann with 11:12 gone in the final period. Skating down the right side of the ice, Lukas faked the slapshot to open up space for a wrister that found the back of the net. The Knights put the game away with 58 seconds remaining on a Russelo empty-net goal.
Neumann outshot Sacred Heart 36-31 for the game. Both teams were 0-for-2 on the power play. Fair made 29 saves for the Knights while Magee had 32 for the Pioneers.
The Pioneers now slip back under .500 with a record of 11-12-2, and will look to finish strong in the second half of the weekend series with Neumann on Senior Day Saturday at 2 p.m.
