College Hockey Stats Box Score

PLATTSBURGH, N.Y. – The top-ranked Plattsburgh State women's ice hockey team handed No. 4 Elmira College its first Eastern College Athletic Conference (ECAC) Women's West loss as the Cardinals won, 4-2, in the Ronald B. Stafford Ice Arena on Saturday. Plattsburgh State, now winners of 15 straight games, improves to 21-1 overall and 14-1 in the league, while Elmira goes to 15-3-4 and 12-1-2 after seeing its 10-game unbeaten streak snapped. The Cardinals and Soaring Eagles, who meet again tomorrow, are ranked according to the latest U.S. College Hockey Online (USCHO) Division III national poll.
 
Both teams entered Saturday tied for first atop the ECAC Women's West regular-season standings. Plattsburgh State's Saturday win gives the team a two-point (one win) edge over Elmira, with both sides still having three regular-season games to play. The Cardinals play Elmira on Sunday and then Buffalo State College twice next weekend, while the Soaring Eagles have one Plattsburgh State game and two SUNY Potsdam contests. A Sunday Plattsburgh State win locks up the regular-season title and home-ice advantage throughout the ECAC Women's West postseason.
 
Plattsburgh State sophomore Courtney Moriarty (Estero, Fla./Northfield Mount Hermon) scored twice, while junior Megan Crandell (Fullerton, Calif./Saint Norbert) provided one goal and two assists. Junior Melissa Sheeran (Schaghticoke, N.Y./Millbrook School) scored and five Cardinals earned an assist. Senior Camille Leonard (Oakville, Ontario/Oakville Jr. Hornets) collected 16 saves for the win.
 
With an assist on Saturday, junior Kayla Meneghin (Clifton, N.J./The Gunnery) tied Shannon Stewart '15 for fourth in program history in career assists (77), while also upping her career point total to 139, which ties Teal Gove '13 and Lynn Taylor '05 for fifth in school annals. Leonard picked up her 68th career win and trails Sydney Aveson '14 by just one victory for the career mark. Head coach Kevin Houle notched his 337th career win and is now tied with Laura Halldorson for eighth across all NCAA divisions in career women's ice hockey coaching wins. Houle is already the third most winningest coach in Division III women's ice hockey history, trailing only Bill Mandigo (Middlebury College, 534 wins) and Mike Carroll (Gustavus Adolphus College, 374 wins).
 
Elmira senior Jessica Prance scored twice, with junior Meghan Fonfara dishing two assists. Juniors Rachel Grampp and Louisa Lippiatt Durnell both had one helper and classmate Kelcy Crawford stopped 33 shots.
 
Plattsburgh State led, 1-0, after nine first-period shots. The visitors, though, were the first to register a shot on net as sophomore Maddy Jerolman sent a right circle shot that was kicked out by Leonard 50 seconds into play. Classmate Katie Granato then tried stuffing in a shot inside the left post at 7:15, but Leonard was there to snuff out the chance. The Cardinals then jumped on the board at 14:01 on Crandell's power-play tally. Hudson fed up a left side to Crandell, whose low point shot through traffic went through Crawford's legs.
 
Elmira scored twice compared to Plattsburgh State's one goal as the game was tied, 2-2, after two periods. Prance got the Soaring Eagles on the board at 11:35 when she took Lippiatt Durnell's low pass and snapped a quick shot through Leonard's legs. Sheeran put the hosts back on top at 15:44 when she wheeled across the top of the right circle before wristing a power-play shot into the upper left corner. Prance buried the equalizer just 22 seconds later as Prance let loose a mid-slot shot into the upper right corner.
 
Tied at 2-2 going into the final stanza, Moriarty broke the stalemate at 3:15 when she corralled the loose in a scramble and punched home the tally into the left side. Elmira was able to kill off a 5-on-3 power-play around midway through the period but could not solve Leonard for the remainder on the offensive end. Moriarty capped the evening with an empty-net goal in the final minute to ice the game.
 
Plattsburgh Stats closes out its regular-season home slate with Senior Day against Elmira tomorrow at 3 p.m.