BUFFALO, N.Y.— Erin Gehen (West Seneca, NY/W. Seneca West) and Rachel Lenard (Orchard Park, NY/Nardin) had three points each as Buffalo State rolled to a 4-0 victory over visiting Cortland today in an ECAC West contest at the Ice Arena.
THE BASICS
FINAL SCORE: Buffalo State – 4, Cortland – 0
LOCATION: Ice Arena – Buffalo, NY
RECORDS: Buffalo State (17-6-0/11-5-0), Cortland (9-12-1/5-10-1)
HOW IT HAPPENED
Gehen netted two goals and an assist, and Lenard had a goal and two assists to lead the Bengals attack.
Senior Nikki Kirchberger (Buffalo, NY/W. Seneca West) added a goal and an assist for the Bengals.
Lenard opened the scoring with her fourth of the season since transferring for the New Year just 4:38 into the game.
Gehen pushed the lead to 2-0 with a deflection from a Lenard point shot on the power play for the only goal of the second period.
Gehen extended the lead with her team-leading 17th goal of the season midway through the final stanza, before Kirchberger completed the scoring with her 10th of the year on the power play.
Justine Silva (Baldwin Park, CA/Arroyo) and senior Sarah Quigley (Canton, MA/National Sports Academy) combined for the shutout in goal. Silva stopped all 19 shots she faced before being relieved by Quigley who made four saves in the final 4:47 on “Senior Day”.
Buffalo State finished 2 for 7 on the power play and successfully killed all nine shorthanded situations.
Buffalo State outshot Cortland, 26-23.
Emma Ruggiero (Amherst, NY/Sacred Heart), Caitie Horvatits (Elma, NY/Iroquois), Viivi Vaattovaara (Veikkola, Finland) and Maddie Toczek (N. Tonawanda/Starpoint) added assists for the Bengals.
FOR THE FOES
Deanna Meunier finished with 22 saves for Cortland.
NOTEWORTHY
Kirchberger matched a school record playing in her 100th career game today. She also moved into sole possession of second place on the school’s all-time scoring list with 61 career points (31 goals, 30 assists).
UP NEXT
Buffalo State will close out the ECAC West regular season with a pair of games at Utica next Saturday and Sunday to likely determine the No. 3 and 4 seeds entering the playoffs.
