Megan Niesyty scored what proved to be the winning goal two minutes, 11 seconds before the end of the second period as the Buffalo St. women’s ice hockey team completed a two-game weekend sweep of Cortland with a 3-2 victory in ECAC West play Saturday afternoon.
Sophomores Niamh O’Connor (Paramus, NJ/New Jersey Rockets) and Katie Gili (Brooklyn/New Jersey Rockets) tallied goals for the Red Dragons (2-12-2 overall, 1-8-1 ECAC West), while sophomore Corey Temple (Troy, MI/Ohio Flames) recorded two assists and freshman Sydney Carlucci (Baldwinsville/Rochester Edge) chipped in with one assist. Freshman goalie Kelly Farinella (Marlton, NJ/New Jersey Rockets) turned aside 22 shots.
Jeyna Minnick led the Bengals (2-15, 2-8) with one goal and one assist. Niesyty and Kara Goodwin added a goal and Christina Zandri and Morgan Haettich each contributed one assist. Goalie Jordan Lee made 30 saves.
After a scoreless first period, O’Connor gave Cortland a 1-0 lead with her fourth goal of the season at 2:04 of the second off Temple’s assist. Minnick and Goodwin then made it 2-1 in favor of the Bengals with scores at 5:19 and 8:21, respectively. Gili knotted the game with her goal at 15:22 before Niesyty tallied the game-winner at 17:49 off an assist from Minnick.
With 50 seconds remaining in the third period, Cortland pulled Farinella for an extra skater. Eleven seconds later the Red Dragons went on the power play but could not net the equalizer.