Canton, NY – Tess Adams (Calgary, AB) netted her third hat trick of the season but the SUNY Canton women’s hockey team fell 7-4 to visiting Buffalo State College on Saturday evening in the Roos House.
Maddie Toczek opened the scoring for the Bengals (9-3-0) at 9:14 of the first as she was the recipient of a loose puck in front of net on a scramble out in front and put the puck into the open right side of net. Erin Gehen and Nikki Kirchberger earned helpers on the play. Buffalo State added a second score just 27 seconds later when Emma Ruggiero netted her second of the season on a shot that found its way into the back of the net after it appeared that Rebecca DiNardo (Ottawa, ON) had the puck covered. Rachel Lenard and Hannah Tarr assisted the goal as the Bengals took a 2-0 lead into the first intermission.
The visitors opened up a three goal advantage at 12:51 when Gehen lit the lamp off a pass from Kirchberger. Adams got the hosts on the board at 15:12 on the power play when she took a pass from Anna Lagzdina (Ozolnieki, Latvia) and wristed a shot bar-down to extend her goal streak to four games.
Just 37 seconds later the Roos (4-10-1) took a penalty and the Bengals regained the three-goal advantage 31 seconds into the power play when Gehen netted her second of the game off the setup from Lenard. Buffalo State led 4-1 after two.
Lenard added her third point of the night as she scored on the power play 1:28 into the third on a snipe past the stick of DiNardo. Gehen and Ruggiero earned helpers on the play.
Adams slotted her second of the night as Lagzdina hit her with a pass as she skated past the blue line. Adams slid the puck through the five-hole of Megan Sackett for her 14th goal of the season. Missy Mallon made it 6-2 Buffalo State on the power play at 11:10.
Adams completed the hat trick at 14:40 on a breakaway as she once again beat Sackett with a nice deke and slid the puck through the five-hole. Lagzdina responded with her sixth of the season off the set up from Adams and Whitney Bernier (Newport, VT) on the power play 81 seconds later as SUNY Canton was suddenly within 6-4 with four minutes remaining. Ruggiero added an insurance marker on a 5-on-3 with 17 seconds left for the 7-4 final.
Both teams were successful on the power play combining to score six goals and go 6-for-14 with the skater advantage. DiNardo made 35 saves over 51:06 before Illie Berisha (Lake Ariel, PA) replaced her to make two stops. Sackett turned aside 16 shots for the Bengals.
These two teams will have a rematch on Sunday at 2 p.m. in the Roos House. Stay up to date with the latest news directly from the SUNY Canton Athletics department by “liking” us on Facebook and “following” our Twitter, Instagram and YouTube accounts.
