PLATTSBURGH, N.Y. – The No. 1/1 Plattsburgh State women’s ice hockey team celebrated its 2017 NCAA Division III national championship in grand fashion on Sunday afternoon in its season opener, defeating Utica College 5-0 on a day in which the Cardinals rose their national championship banner from last season into the rafters.
Plattsburgh State is ranked at No. 1 in both the USCHO.com Division III Women’s Top-10 Poll and the D3hockey.com Women’s Top-10 Poll.
The Cardinals dominated in all phases of the game, holding a 45-26 margin in shots, going 2-for-6 on the power play and killing off all five penalties they sustained.
Plattsburgh State rises to 1-0-0 overall with the win and makes its Northeast Women’s Hockey League (NEWHL) debut on Friday, Nov. 3, at SUNY Cortland for a 2 p.m. puck drop. Utica drops to 1-1-0 overall and hosts Becker College next on Saturday, Nov. 4, at 2:30 p.m.
The Cardinals kicked off scoring with 6:40 gone in the first period, as junior forward Courtney Moriarty (Estero, Fla./Northfield Mount Hermon) scored on the power play. Sophomore defenseman Hannah Kiraly (Glendale, Ariz./Northern Cyclones) passed the puck to senior forward Melissa Sheeran (Schaghticoke, N.Y./Millbrook School), who was inside the right face-off circle, and Sheeran fed Moriarty in the slot for the goal. Moriarty netted her second power-play goal of the day with 21 seconds before the first intermission, as sophomore forward Meghan Kraus (Bellingham, Wash./Northern Cyclones) darted down the ice with the puck and fed Moriarty from behind the net, and Moriarty backhanded a one-timer in the slot into the back of the net.
Sophomore forward Sarah Wolf (Fairport, N.Y./Boston Shamrocks Elite) scored a highlight-reel goal with 7:17 elapsed in the second period, as she picked up a deflected puck in the Cardinals’ defensive zone, gained separation by playing the puck forward off the boards and skated down the right wing before uncorking a wrist shot that hit the bottom of the crossbar and bounced into the goal.
With 5:10 left in the second period, senior forward Kayla Meneghin (Clifton, N.J./The Gunnery) and Sheeran combined for the Cardinals’ fourth goal. The pair passed the puck back and forth before Sheeran took a shot that got deflected, and Sheeran then corralled the puck along the boards behind the goal. She then came out past the goal line and ripped a shot from the right face-off circle that beat the Pioneer goalie glove side. Nearly four minutes later, Sheeran tallied once again, scoring top shelf from inside the slot off a pass from Meneghin.
Junior goaltender Kassi Abbott (North Billerica, Mass./Boston Shamrocks Elite) earned the shutout win for the Cardinals, making 26 saves, while senior goaltender Amanda Lupo shouldered the loss for the Pioneers, turning aside 40 shots.
