Huskies Spoil No. 5 Saints Home-Opener, 2-1

Oct. 9: The No. 5 St. Lawrence University women's hockey team opened its 2009-10 regular season schedule on Friday evening at Appleton Arena against the University of Connecticut.  Though the Saints jumped out to a 1-0 lead, the Huskies would rally with a goal in each of the final two periods to upset the home team 2-1.

Connecticut (1-1-1, 0-1-1) finished with an impressive 20-14 advantage in shots on goal, though Alexandra Garcia made eight big saves in the third period to help preserve the Huskies' first win of the season.  Meanwhile, St. Lawrence (0-1-0, 0-0-0) had a hard time getting many quality chances in front of Garcia thanks to a solid UConn defense.

"We played a very talented and very good team tonight," said St. Lawrence head coach Chris Wells.  "I was outcoached.  They executed a good game plan that was effective throughout the game."

Though the first period was scoreless, UConn controlled much of the offense including taking the first seven shots on goal in the game.  However, senior goalie Brittony Chartier stopped each of the eight shots she faced to keep her team tied heading to the second period.

Senior captain Tara Akstull would score the opening goal of the season for St. Lawrence on the power play at 4:10 of the second period.  Sophomore line mate Alley Bero fired a shot that hit the post and a scrum began at the top of the Connecticut crease.  First-year defenseman Brooke Fernandez was able to dig the puck out to Akstull, who slid it across the goal line for a 1-0 lead and the 89^th point of her collegiate career.

The Huskies would respond with the tying goal midway through the second period.  Jody Sydor sent an outlet pass up the near boards to Brittany Murphy, who skated into the St. Lawrence zone to Chartier's right.  Murphy was able to thread a pretty pass through the slot to a wide-open Lisa Stathopulos, who lifted a forehand shot under the cross bar for her first goal of the season at 9:28 to level the score.

The two teams would remain tied throughout the remainder of the stanza, though St. Lawrence was called for back-to-back minor penalties only 26 seconds apart in the final minute of the period.  The calls allowed Connecticut to start the third with a 5-on-3 advantage for 1:34 seconds. 

The Saints continued to impress on special teams, as they were able to kill off both penalties and return to 5-on-5 action early in the period.  Just as it seemed the home team had snatched the momentum by killing the penalties, however, the Huskies pounced on a scoring bid and took the lead at 2-1.  A mere 1:11 after the UConn power play ended, Amy Hollstein gathered a loose puck in the slot of a blocked shot and pushed it through Chartier's pads for her first goal of the season.  Hollstein's goal came at 2:44 of the frame and was assisted by Michelle Binning and Monique Weber.

St. Lawrence would begin to press offensively and had several close calls against Garcia.  However, the UConn defense did well to keep the majority of the Saints' shots coming from long-range and helped their goalie by blocking several bids as well.  Despite pulling Chartier with nearly three minutes remaining in the game, St. Lawrence simply couldn't beat Garcia and the Huskies held on for a 2-1 win.

Connecticut closed with a 20-14 advantage in shots on goal, as Chartier made 18 saves to Garcia's 13.  St. Lawrence finished 1-of-2 on the power play while killing off all four of Connecticut's power play chances. 

St. Lawrence will look to pick up its first win of the season tomorrow, Saturday, October 10 when Providence College visits Appleton Arena.  The puck is set to drop on the Saints and Friars at 3:00pm.