ASTON, Pa. — The top-ranked Plattsburgh State women’s ice hockey team wrapped up its two-game weekend series at Neumann University with a 5-0 win in Eastern College Athletic Conference (ECAC) West action at the IceWorks Twin Rinks on Saturday. Plattsburgh State, which played its final game of a season-opening four-game road stretch, moved to 4-0 overall and 4-0 in the ECAC West, while Neumann drops to 1-5 and 0-4. The Cardinals’ No. 1 ranking was according to this week’s U.S. College Hockey Online (USCHO) Division III national poll.
Plattsburgh State received multi-point efforts from four skaters. Junior Kayla Meneghin (Clifton, N.J./The Gunnery) scored twice, senior Melissa Ames (Rochester, N.Y./Pittsburgh Penguins Elite U-19) and sophomore Ashley Songin (Springville, N.Y./Nichols School) both had one goal and one assist and freshman Hannah Kiraly (Newport Beach, Calif./Northern Cyclones) dished two assists. Freshman Meghan Kraus (Fort Lewis, Wash./Northern Cyclones) also scored once. Senior Camille Leonard (Oakville, Ontario/Oakville Jr. Hornets) earned the win with four saves in a scoreless first period, while sophomore Kassi Abbott (North Billerica, Mass./Boston Shamrocks Elite U-19)collected 10 saves over the following two periods.
Neumann senior Kelly Fox won eight faceoffs. Senior Julia Fair played the first two periods and made 26 saves before freshman Helen Cooney turned aside 13 shots in the scoreless third period.
The Cardinals deposited four goals in the opening stanza, with three of those tallies coming in the first 7:04. Songin opened the scoring with a power-play goal at 4:03, with help from Ames and Kiraly. Meneghin registered a goal 6:45 and then Ames scored 19 seconds later to give Plattsburgh State a 3-0 lead. Meneghin would register her second marker of the period with 56 seconds remaining in the frame.
The second period saw the visitors own a 14-5 shot advantage. At 13:31, Kraus netted a power-play goal to give Plattsburgh State its fifth and final tally of the contest. Both sides then skated to scoreless third period after combining for 18 shots in the closing 20 minutes.
Plattsburgh State makes its regular-season home opener by hosting No. 6 Norwich University on Wednesday at 7 p.m. in a non-conference battle. Norwich is ranked according to the USCHO.com national poll.
