Skylar Podvey scored two goals and assisted on another to lead the ninth-ranked St. Lawrence University women’s hockey team to a 4-1 win over Brown University in an ECAC Hockey game at Meehan Auditorium in Providence, Rhode Island, on Saturday afternoon.
The Saints extended their winning streak to four games, improving to 8-5-1 overall and becoming the only ECAC Hockey team with a perfect conference record at 4-0-0.
“Four points on any league weekend is a great weekend,” said St. Lawrence head coach Chris Wells ’92. “Brown was all over loose pucks and worked as hard as any team we have played. Sonjia Shelly made some great saves and different players keep finding ways to contribute.”
Podvey gave the Saints a 1-0 lead with the teams skating 4-on-4, driving a shot from the top of the right faceoff circle high to the glove side 12 minutes into the first period. Justine Reyes and Nadine Edney picked up assists on the play.
Brown dominated the first half of the second period and nearly tied the score when Sena Hanson hit the post after picking up a rebound in the slot. Hanson had another great scoring chance less than a minute later on the same shift but was denied by Shelly’s glove on a breakaway bid.
The Bears, however, did tie the score a few minutes later, as Kaitijane Blumberg beat Shelly on a 2-on-1 break, opting to shoot herself.
But just 1:32 later, Kristen Guerriero gave St. Lawrence a 2-1 lead with her first collegiate goal. The defenseman from Montreal had a slap shot from the top of the left faceoff circle blocked, but she quickly gathered the loose puck and fired a wrist shot from the left dot into the back of the net. Claire Dudley, Guerriero’s pair on the blue line, picked up her first collegiate point with an assist on the play, and Rachael Smith also earned a helper.
Maggie McLaughlin increased the lead to two goals with just 12 seconds left in the second, going bar-down with a wrist shot from the right circle, with Kalie Grant and Podvey getting credit for assists.
Podvey put the game away with a shorthanded 6-on-4 empty-net goal from 150 feet away, marking the second consecutive game that the Saints have scored an empty-net goal from inside of their own blue line.
Shelly made 33 saves for the Saints, while Hayley Klizcko stopped 31 shots for the Bears, who fell to 5-5-1, 2-5-1.
The Saints will wrap up non-conference play at the Windjammer Tournament hosted by the University of Vermont next weekend. St. Lawrence will play second-ranked Minnesota on Friday at 4 p.m. in the first round of the tournament.
