GENEVA, N.Y. – The William Smith College ice hockey team soared to a 3-0 victory over Chatham in ECAC West action at The Cooler this evening. Five different players recorded points for the Herons.
William Smith (3-4-2, 1-4-2) used a goal a period to collect their first conference win of the season. At 17:12 of the first period, first-yearStephanie Hampton collected her first career goal to give the Herons a 1-0 lead. With the Herons on the power play, sophomore Krista Federow won a faceoff back to Rebecca Begley at the point. Begley fed a crossing pass along the blue line to Hedi Droste. Droste fired a shot from the point that was tipped in front of the goal to Hampton. Hampton collected the loose puck and tucked it behind the left pad of Kasandra Petersen, the Chatham goalie. With an assist, Begley now has points in four straight games. At the end of the first period, William Smith held a 10-8 advantage in shots.
In the second period, sophomore Catherine Linehan notched her second goal of the season to give the Herons a 2-0 lead. Linehan collected a loose puck in front of cage and wristed a shot into the upper right corner of the goal. Linehan’s unassisted goal beat Petersen high blocker side. William Smith had plenty of offensive opportunities in the second period but were only able to get one of its 10 shots past Petersen.
At 6:44 of the third period, first-year Egan Sachs-Hecht pocketed her first collegiate goal to give the Herons a 3-0 lead. She collected a rebound and batted the puck into the open net.
On the other end of the ice, the Cougars (2-5-0, 0-5-0) were unable to solve Maggie Salmon. Salmon turned aside all 27 shots she faced to post her second career shutout. She got help from a couple posts and then made a terrific save with Chatham on the power play. Erika Bronk wristed a shot from close range that Salmon saved with her mask.
Petersen got the start and played all sixty minutes for the Cougars and made 29 stops.
William Smith scored on one of its three power play opportunities, while Chatham came away empty on its two opportunities.
The Herons and Cougars will be back in action tomorrow when they square off at 4 p.m. at The Cooler. The game will be the final game of 2015 for William Smith.
