GENEVA, N.Y.-The SUNY Potsdam women’s hockey team (3-2-2, 1-2-1 ECAC West) shook off a William Smith College (2-3-1, 0-3-1) rally to down the Herons 4-2 on Sunday afternoon. Junior forward Jordan Ott (Hilton, N.Y./Rochester Edge) scored her sixth goal of the season for her 65th career point and moved in to sole possession of fourth place on the program’s all-time scoring list. Freshman forward Jenna Patterson (Boissevain, Manitoba/Westman Wildcats), sophomore forward Anna-Rose Bertin (Marathon, Ontario/CIH Academy) and freshman defenseman Rylie Murray (Berkley, Mich./Honeybaked) also scored for the Bears.
The Herons held the edge in play in the first period. Despite not converting on its lone power play, William Smith peppered Potsdam assistant captain Abby Tardelli (Potsdam, N.Y./North Country Ice Storm) with 11 shots. However, Ott got the Bears on the board first at 10:10. Just 3:05 later, Patterson doubled the lead after finishing a pass from senior forward Alison Greene (Massena, N.Y./Norwich University). The goal chased Maggie Salmon from the William Smith net. The Herons replaced her with Laurel Brown. Potsdam led 2-0 at the first intermission.
The Bears outshot the Herons 9-8 in the second period, but weren’t able to extend their lead. Instead William Smith started its rally. At 10:25, Krista Federow finally solved Tardelli and got the Herons back within 2-1. The score was unchanged after 40 minutes.
Just 2:04 into the final period, William Smith tied the score on a goal from Rachael Berry. It was all Potsdam for the rest of the game. The Bears compiled a 13-6 shot advantage and scored the game’s final two goals. At 8:54, Bertin netted the game-winner with assists from Murray and assistant captain Kaylen Van Wagner (Red Hook, N.Y./Hotchkiss Prep). With 2:03 remaining, Brown was pulled for an extra attacker, while the Herons were on a power play. It took Murray 46 seconds to tack on the empty-netter and clinch the win for Potsdam. Patterson recorded the contest’s final assist.
Tardelli finished with 23 saves. Brown was the tough luck loser after allowing a single goal and stopping 20 shots in 44:46. Salmon finished with four saves on six shots. The Bears were 0-for-1 on the power play and the Herons went 0-for-4.
Bears ninth-year head coach Jay Green saw his team make a lot of progress as the game went on.
“After a weak game yesterday, we didn’t play well in the first period and didn’t improve until midway through the second,” said Green. “In the third period we finally got back to playing basic competitive hockey and things improved dramatically. We were moving the puck and playing with higher intensity. Defensively, Kaylen Van Wagner and Rylie Murray played very well. Jordan had her usual strong game up front and Alison and Jenna Patterson also played very well. Anna-Rose was clutch when we needed her for the game-winning goal and Abby Tardelli was solid in goal.”
Potsdam returns home this weekend for a two-game series with ECAC West foe Oswego State. The Bears host the Lakers at 7 p.m. on Friday and 3 p.m. on Saturday.
