Lancers Downed by Cardinals

Worcester, MA- The Women's Ice Hockey (5-4-1, 4-1-1) team made a quick turnaround, jumping back on the ice under 24 hours from last night's conference win over Anna Maria to head down to Connecticut to take on Wesleyan University in a Sunday afternoon battle.

Final

Worcester State: 0

Wesleyan: 3

The action began heavily in the Cardinals' possession with the Lancers held without a shot for the opening period but that was no issue for the Lancers with sophomore Kelsey Czerniawski (Chicopee, MA) in the cage for the Lancers. Czerniawski was crisp on her skates making save after save in conjunction with a solid Lancer defensive presence to keep the puck out of the cage. The Cardinals looked to get some breathing room from the Worcester State stalwart defense in the period, looking to capitalize on two slightly overlapping penalties in the period but the Lancer lines held strong to keep the game scoreless. Worcester began to find their offensive momentum with about two and half minutes in the period as graduate student Katie Puumala (Framingham, MA) fired a shot on the cage but it was knocked away by Wesleyan's keeper to hold the score at 0-0. The Cardinals were finally able to crack the defensive code with just over 30 seconds in the period when they snuck a puck past  Czerniawski to take a 1-0 lead into the first intermission, who would end the first period of action with 18 saves. 

The second period saw each team settle more into an up-and-down the ice game with each team getting a few solid shots off in the period and putting their lines to good work. In the 13' minute of the second period, capitalizing on a Lancers penalty, the Cardinals knocked in goal number two and in the final two minutes of the period, they were able to gather up a shot blocked by sophomore Jennarae Bateman (Wyoming, MN) and reset and send the puck into the net to put the Cardinals up 3-0 into the second break. 

Worcester State put their full focus into attempting to cut into the lead in the third period, and nearly capitalized on a power play opportunity 5 minutes into the period. The Lancers took a 3-5 woman advantage on the ice for about a minute but the Cardinals defense zoned up and forced Worcester out of the zone to keep the score still sitting at 3-0 in Wesleyan's favor. A late power play opportunity saw the Lancers nearly cut the deficit to two but the Cardinals held firm and denied the Lancer star opportunity, wrapping the game up 3-0 when the final buzzer sounded.

Czerniawski ended the night with 36 saves on the night while Puumala led the team with three shots on the afternoon.

Worcester State moves to (5-5-1, 4-1-1) with the loss and return to action on December 8th when they return to home ice for a 7:10 puck drop versus Johnson and Wales (RI).