OSWEGO, N.Y. — The No. 4/5 nationally-ranked Elmira College women’s ice hockey team opened the 2017-18 season on the right foot, as the Soaring Eagles rolled to a 4-1 road victory over Oswego State. Elmira utilized a trio of first-period goals to set the tone in today’s contest, which proved to be more than enough to hand the Lakers their first loss of year.
Highlighting today’s season-opening victory was the hat-trick heroics of senior forward Sarah Hughson ’18. The East Haddam, Connecticut, native scored the first two goals of the contest 3:47 apart in the opening eight minutes of the first period. Of her three scores, two came on the power play, accounting for two of Elmira’s three power-play goals of the afternoon.
Hughson scored her first of three goals at the 4:04 mark of the first period on a 6-on-5 power play. The extra-skater goal came with just 18 seconds remaining on the power play and was assisted by Shannon Strawinski ’19 and Meg Lahey ’19.
Hughson struck again at 7:51, this time even-strength, to put the Purple and Gold on top, 2-0. Strawinski was once again involved in the scoring play, as she picked up the primary assist on the score, her second helper of the afternoon. Also assisting on the goal was blueliner Rachel Grampp ’18, her first of the season.
Elmira’s relentless attack in the first period materialized into another goal, as rookie Devyn Gilman ’21 scored her first career goal at the 11:28 mark to give the Soaring Eagles a 3-0 lead. The Yorba Linda, California, native cashed in on EC’s second power-play chance of the evening, as Maddie Evangelous ’19 and Kristin Chivers ’19 were credited with assists. Gilman’s score sent the Soaring Eagles into the first intermission with a 3-0 lead.
Neither team was able to find the back of the cage in the second period, and after 18 minutes of scoreless hockey in the third period, Hughson completed her hat-trick effort with Elmira’s third power-play goal of the evening with 1:28 remaining on the clock. Hughson’s goal was assisted by Lahey, who earned her second helper of the night, and Katie Granato’ 19.
Elmira nearly finished off the Lakers without allowing a goal, but Jean-marie Padden scored 24 seconds later to trim the EC lead to three. Natalie Giglio and Victoria Blake picked up assists on the goal. However, this was as close as Oswego would get, as the Soaring Eagles skated away with an impressive 4-1 season-opening win.
Senior netminder Kelcey Crawford ’18 made 17 saves to pick up her first win of the 2017-18 campaign. Her counterpart from Oswego, Mariah Madrigal, made 33 saves in 60 minutes of work.
In His Own Words…
Head Coach Tim Crowley shares his thoughts on Elmira’s play this afternoon…
“It’s always good to start the year off with a win, especially against a good team like Oswego. I thought we came with a lot of energy and it carried through the game.”
Coach Crowley discusses EC’s success on the power play…
“Power play was a huge factor today, as was the penalty kill, which we’ve been stressing its importance. We generated a lot of chances and traffic in front of the goalie which we were able to cash in on.”
Coach Crowley talks about Hughson’s hat-trick effort…
“I thought Hughie and her line were really good today. She’s continuing to get better from last year and plays hard every shift which shows on the score sheet.”
News and Notes
Elmira has won two consecutive season-opening games.
The last time Elmira scored three power-play goals in one game dates back to October 11, 2016 against Chatham.
Elmira improved to 22-0-2 all-time against the Lakers.
It marked the first time in her career Hughson has scored multiple goals.
Hughson’s hat-trick is the first of the career.
Hughson is the first Soaring Eagle to register a hat-trick since Evangelous did so on January 17, 2017 against Williams.
Lahey logged her fourth multi-assist performance.
Strawinski registered the third multi-assist performance of her career.
Gilman is the first Elmira freshman to score in a season-opening game since Louisa Lippiatt Durnell ’18 did so in a 3-2 win over Norwich in 2014-15.
Crawford earned her 32nd career win this afternoon.
Up Next
The Soaring Eagles open United Collegiate Hockey Conference (UCHC) play next weekend with a pair of league games against first-year program King’s College (Pa.) in Pittston, Pennsylvania. The first of two league games is scheduled for Saturday, November 11, at 3:00 p.m.
