SOUTH BURLINGTON, VT.-Senior forward Jordan Ott (Hilton, N.Y./Rochester Edge) scored twice to lead the SUNY Potsdam women’s hockey team (2-0) to a 4-1 victory at Saint Michael’s College (0-2) on Saturday afternoon. Junior forward Jaci Morr (Monroe, Mich./Team Mich.) and senior captain Amanda Peterson (West Chazy, N.Y./Chazy Flyers) also scored for the Bears. Freshman goaltender Nicole Whitesell (Winnipeg, Manitoba/Balmoral Hall) made 26 saves to earn the victory in her first career start.
As they had the previous afternoon, the Purple Knights opened the contest with good energy. Fortunately for the Bears, they had more strong goaltending from a freshman in her collegiate debut. Whitesell withstood the early barrage and finished with 12 saves in the opening 20 minutes. Murray got Potsdam on the board at the 17:43 mark with assists from sophomores Rylie Murray (Berkley Mich./Honeybaked) and Nicole Watson (Highlands Ranch, Colo. / Colorado Select). After the play, Saint Michael’s was whistled for a trip and the Potsdam began its lone power play of the period. The Bears pulled Whitesell for an extra attacker and doubled the lead. Peterson made it 2-0 at 18:55 with helpers from Murray and senior captain Kaylen Van Wagner (Red Hook, N.Y./Hotchkiss).
Potsdam was called for interference just 1:37 into the second period and SMC capitalized on the opportunity. After Whitesell made two saves on the penalty kill, Tori Hubbard finally solved her at the 2:30 mark with assists from Kaitlyn Wurzer and Lauren Cuculino. Ott answered nearly eight minutes later with her 13th career power-play goal on another assist from Van Wagner. Thanks in part to 10 more saves from Whitesell, the Bears carried the two-goal advantage into the second intermission.
Potsdam owned the third period, bombarding Purple Knights goalie Tina Frasca with 20 shots. Frasca stopped 19 of them, but Ott struck again at the 12:45 mark. Morr and Peterson each assisted on the goal.
Frasca finished with 34 saves. The Bears were 2-for-8 on the power play, while SMC finished 1-for-7.
Potsdam is now 8-0-1 in the all-time series with the Purple Knights.
The Bears are back in action next Friday, when they host SUNY Cortland at 5 p.m. to open ECAC West play.
