CORTLAND N.Y. — No. 1 Plattsburgh State women's ice hockey topped SUNY Cortland, 5-2, in Northeast Women's Hockey League play on Friday night at Alumni Arena.
Having played its final game of the 2019 calendar year, Plattsburgh State (10-1-0, 8-0-0 NEWHL) will next play at No. 3 Norwich University as part of the Norwich East-West Hockey Classic at 2 p.m. on Sunday, Jan. 5. Cortland (6-3-1, 4-3-1 NEWHL) next hosts Alvernia University for a non-conference game at 7 p.m. on Monday, Jan. 6.
Plattsburgh State jumped out to a 3-0 lead in the game. Sophomore forward Taylor Whitney (Livonia, Mich./Little Caesars) scored the Cardinals' first two goals of the evening. Whitney gave Plattsburgh State a 1-0 lead at the 1:35 mark of the first period, with freshman forward Ivy Boric (Newport Beach, Calif./Anaheim Lady Ducks) and junior defenseman Emma Killeen (Watertown, Conn./The Gunnery) assisting on the play.
Less than four minutes later, Whitney struck again with a power-play goal at 4:57 of the first period to make the score 2-0. The assists were credited to sophomore defenseman Sierra Benjamin (Palm Coast, Fla./Northwood School) and junior forward Kaitlin Drew-Mead (Niagara Falls, N.Y./Buffalo Bisons). Whitney has eight goals on the season.
Junior forward Annie Katonka (Pittsburgh, Pa./Pittsburgh Penguins Elite) made the score 3-0 with her eighth goal of the season at 12:21 of the first period, with sophomore forward Sara Krauseneck (Saginaw, Mich./Northern Cyclones) and junior forward Abby Brush (Mount Prospect, Ill./Chicago Young Americans) garnering the assists.
However, Cortland fought back and scored the next two goals to cut Plattsburgh State's lead to 3-2.
Martha Dzieniszewska made the score 3-1 with a goal for the Red Dragons at 7:07 of the second period. Abbey Paduano assisted on the play.
In the third period, Dany Donegan scored for Cortland at the 3:38 mark. Teryn Field and Elena Eichmann garnered the assists.
However, Plattsburgh State would not allow Cortland to get any closer and the Cardinals scored the finals two goals of the night to make the final score 5-2.
Junior defenseman Erin McArdle (Macomb, Mich./Belle Tire) scored her third goal of the season on the power play at 9:07 of the third period. Assisting on the play was sophomore forward Nicole Unsworth (Milwaukee, Wis./East Coast Wizards) and senior defenseman Hannah Kiraly (Glendale, Ariz./Northern Cyclones).
Unsworth capped off the scoring with her third goal of the season, assisted by Kiraly, on the power play at 9:57 of the third period.
Freshman netminder Lilla Nease (Lake Forest, Calif./Anaheim Lady Ducks) (4-0-0) made 16 saves for Plattsburgh State, while Chelsea Allain (4-3-1) stopped 31 shots for Cortland.
Plattsburgh State held a 36-18 edge in shots on goal and went 3-of-8 on the power play. The Cardinals successfully killed off eight Red Dragon power plays.
