CORTLAND, N.Y. – The No. 2 Plattsburgh State women's ice hockey team secured the top seed in the inaugural State University of New York Athletic Conference (SUNYAC) Tournament and captured the SUNYAC's first-ever regular-season title in the sport of women's ice hockey, as the Cardinals topped No. 12 SUNY Cortland, 3-1, in conference action on Friday afternoon at Alumni Arena. The Cardinals have now stretched their winning streak to 12.
 
Plattsburgh State is ranked at No. 2 in the USCHO.com Women's Division III Top-15 Poll, while Cortland is ranked at No. 12.
 
Plattsburgh State, which has won 10 consecutive conference championships (five from the Eastern College Athletic Conference [ECAC] West and five from the Northeast Women's Hockey League [NEWHL]), will host a semifinal-round game against the No. 4 seed on Saturday, Feb. 24. The No. 4 seed will either be SUNY Canton or SUNY Morrisville; Morrisville needs to earn at least one point tomorrow afternoon against SUNY Potsdam to jump Canton for the fourth and final playoff spot.
 
Graduate student defender Kendall Wasik (Novi, Mich./HoneyBaked) contributed on all three Cardinal goals, finishing with three points on a goal and two assists. First-year forward Zsofia Pazmandi (Kaposvar, Hungary/Ontario Hockey Academy) and junior defender Mattie Norton (Glen Carbon, Ill./St. Louis Lady Blues) also scored for Plattsburgh State.
 
Plattsburgh State rises to 21-2-1 overall (16-1-0 SUNYAC) with the win, while Cortland falls to 17-5-2 overall (12-4-1 SUNYAC) with the loss. The two teams close out the series and their regular-season schedules tomorrow afternoon at 3 p.m.
 
Pazmandi broke the ice at 14:15 of the first period. First-year defender Adriana Urban (Monroe, N.J./Hoosac School) passed D-to-D to Wasik on the right point, and Wasik wristed a shot that Pazmandi redirected into the back of the net.
 
Cortland leveled the score at 1-all with 9:03 gone in the second. Senior defender Molly McCabe took a shot from the right point that graduate student goaltender Lilla Nease (Lake Forest, Calif./Anaheim Lady Ducks) turned aside with a pad save before graduate student forward Dany Donegan tried to score with a diving shot along the far post. While Donegan's shot was unable to cross the goal line, junior forward Natalie O'Brien poked the puck past a sprawled-out Nease.
 
Wasik scored on the power play at 14:55 of the second period to give the visitors a lead they would not relinquish. Senior forward Mae Olshansky (Wilmette, Ill./North American Hockey Academy) banked a pass off the back wall to Norton at the bottom of the right circle, and Norton fed Wasik on the right point. Wasik then skated down to the top of the right circle and took advantage of a crowded slot to weave a shot through traffic and past the goalie.
 
Norton added insurance with a power-play marker at 17:21 of the second. Wasik passed D-to-D to graduate student forward Julia Masotta (Tewksbury, Mass./Norwich University), and while Masotta's shot from the top of the left circle was turned aside by Cortland's junior goaltender Molly Goergen with a pad save, Norton was on the doorstep to bury the rebound.
 
Cortland had a golden opportunity to challenge late in the third period, as Plattsburgh State took a penalty with 58 seconds left before a second penalty with 11 seconds remaining gave the Red Dragons a 6-on-3 opportunity with their goalie pulled. The Cardinals prevented the home team from getting a shot on goal during that stretch, and they ultimately cleared the zone to seal the victory.
 
Plattsburgh State finished with a 35-30 edge in shots on goal in addition to going 2-for-4 on the power play. Cortland was scoreless on five power-play opportunities.
 
Nease stood on her head with a 29-save effort in the victory, while Goergen stopped 32 shots for Cortland in the loss.