GENEVA, N.Y. – The William Smith College ice hockey team dropped a nail-biter to Cortland State 3-2 this evening at The Cooler. The Red Dragons scored twice in the second period and held on in the third for the victory.
The Herons (2-21-1, 1-15-1) opened the scoring at the 5:22 mark of the first period. First-year Catherine Linehan collected her fourth goal of the season. She fired a shot from the left faceoff circle that found the back of the net. Emily Burton sent the pass to Linehan, who buried the shot.
Cortland (8-14-2, 5-9-2) tied the game at one at 14:38 of first period. Corey Temple scored 11 seconds after a William Smith penalty expired. Temple received a pass from Abbie Adams and beat Herons’ goalie Maggie Salmon.
Early in the second period, the Herons killed off 1:53 of 5-on-3 play during which Salmon turned aside six Red Dragon shots, keeping the game tied 1-1.
Adams collected a goal of her own at the 13:00 minute mark of the period. Temple won a faceoff back to Adams who fired a shot past Salmon’s glove. Two minutes later Niamh O’Connor notched an unassisted power-play goal to put Cortland up 3-1. O’Connor’s goal would be the eventual game-winner.
Shortly after falling behind by two goals, William Smith generated some offensive opportunities. The Herons fired four quick shots on the Red Dagon net. Cortland goalie, Deanna Meunier, stopped all four.
William Smith made things interesting when Kiley Fewster pocketed her fourth goal of the year. With the Herons on the power play, Rebecca Begley sent a cross point pass to Hedi Droste. Droste fired a point shot that Fewster redirected into the net.
Salmon started in goal for William Smith and turned aside 47 shots. Meunier played all 60 minutes between the pipes for Cortland and turned aside 20 shots.
Both teams scored a power-play goal in today’s game. The Herons killed off eight of their nine penalties while the Red Dragons held William Smith to one goal on its five opportunities.
