PLATTSBURGH, N.Y. – The No. 4 Plattsburgh State women's ice hockey defeated No. 13 Cortland at home on Friday evening, taking their second home State University of New York Athletic Conference (SUNYAC) win of the season. Lilla Nease (Lake Forest, Calif./Anaheim Lady Ducks) posted her third shutout of the season, while Ciara Wall (Somerville, Mass./University of New Hampshire) notched the game-winning goal and an assist.
 
The Plattsburgh State women's ice hockey team is ranked No. 4 in the USCHO.com Division III Top-15 poll for women's hockey, while Cortland is No. 13. 
 
Nease made 20 saves, while Wall picked up her second goal of the year in the win for the Cards. Mae Olshanksy (Wilmette, Ill./North American Hockey Academy) scored the other Plattsburgh goal while Julia Masotta (Tewksbury, Mass./Norwich) tallied two assists and Maeghan Forsyth (Billings, Mont./Notre Dame Hounds) tallied one. 
 
The Cardinals scored on their lone power play opportunity while killing two advantage opportunities for the Red Dragons, all while outshooting Cortland 31-20 over 60 minutes of action. 
 
Plattsburgh State moves to 7-0-1(5-0-0 SUNYAC) on the season and will host SUNY Canton, tomorrow, Saturday, Dec. 2 at 3 p.m. for their final home game of the 2023 calendar year. Cortland falls to 7-2-1 (4-1-1 SUNYAC), sustaining their first SUNYAC loss of the year as they next play SUNY Canton at home on Wednesday, Dec. 6.
 
The Cardinals worked hard early to get their first score, scoring at the 9:41 mark for a lead they would not relinquish. Forsyth began the scoring opportunity with a shot from the point that was saved by the Cortland goaltender, where Masotta was there for a rebound attempt that was saved. On the second rebound attempt and third try, Wall was able to bury the shot in short side to give Plattsburgh the lead. 
 
After the 1-0 score held into the first intermission, Plattsburgh continued to control play throughout the second period, even after a penalty on the Cardinals. The Cards held the Red Dragons to just one shot over the two-minute penalty midway through the period, killing the Cortland advantage.
 
Towards the end of the second period, Plattsburgh earned their first power play opportunity of the night, beginning at the 18:15 mark. Once again, the Cardinal tenacity on the rebounds allowed them to pick up another score, as an initial shot from Masotta was tipped by Wall and saved. The rebound trickled right to Olshanksy who had the short side wide open for the second goal and second power play goal of the season for the senior with 19 seconds remaining in the period. 
 
Over the final 20-plus minutes of the game, Nease and the Cardinal defense played fantastic, continuing to hold the Red Dragon offense at bay. Holding them to just four shots on target in the final period, Nease saved each of them, sealing the Cardinal win. 
 
Molly Goergen saved 29 shots on the night for the Red Dragons, taking the loss in net allowing two goals.