Lancers Extend Unbeaten Streak as they Topple Curry

Worcester, MA- A busy weekend for the Lancers Women's Hockey team got off to a hot start tonight when they hosted the Curry College Colonels. 

The two squads wasted no time supplying some action, with the Colonels cracking the scoreboard first, scoring just a minute and 21 seconds into gameplay. But the Lancers would not stand to play from behind for long, evening the score at one a piece with a senior Katie Puumala (Framingham, Mass.) goal that came less than two minutes later. There would be no more scoring until the 17:42 mark, when graduate student Clare Conway (Billerica, Mass.) easily tipped in a pass from junior Ellen Cook (Becket, Mass.) to put the Lancers up 2-1 heading into the break. Cook also collected an assist on the initial WSU goal, making a huge impact in the first period. 

Senior Brandi Lee (Nashua, NH) got the second period off to an exciting start on what was most likely the play of the game. When a loose puck made its way into Colonel territory, Lee skated the majority of the 200-foot ice surface with a head of steam, outracing all of the Curry skaters. She quickly let a wrist shot rip over the left shoulder of the Colonel goalie, short side and high to put the Lancers up 3-1 just a minute and 46 seconds into the period. Following a slew of penalties, senior Emily Pavoni (Granby, Mass.) got in on the fun to extend the WSU lead to 4-1 with just over five minutes to go. Curry would respond in the dwindling moments of the period, pulling back within two a mere five seconds before the intermission. 

After an action-packed first couple of periods, the third and final yielded no goals for either side, solidifying the Lancer victory. The storyline throughout the game was the Worcester State penalty kill. Tasked with killing five penalties, the short-handed unit spent a sixth of the game putting on a clinic on how to do their job. 

Worcester State will look to improve to 4-0 in the ECHA at 3:30 p.m. at the DCU Center against Anna Maria in their Pink the Rink game. They'll head into that one 15-6-1, while Curry leaves Worcester now 8-12-2 on the year.