Justine Reyes scored both of St. Lawrence’s goals to lead the Saints’ women’s hockey team to a 2-1 win over Merrimack College in a non-league game at J. Thom Lawler Rink in North Andover, Massachusetts on Friday afternoon.
Sonjia Shelly, who got her first start of the season in goal for the Saints, made 20 saves in the victory.
“Once again we capitalized on some nice plays to get the lead and hold it,” said head coach Chris Wells ’92. “Merrimack had some good chances to tie the game and pressured us until the end. The game could have gone either way, we were fortunate to get the early lead and Shelly made some nice stops to preserve the win.”
Reyes scored the first two goals of the game, giving the Saints the lead just before the halfway point of the first period. Kennedy Marchment picked the pocket of a Merrimack player near the blue line and found Reyes at the right side of the net, and Reyes skated in front of Merrimack goaltender Léa-Kristine Demers and beat her with a backhand for her second goal of the season.
Reyes added to the lead halfway through the second period, with Marchment once again providing the helper. Marchment took a pass from Hannah Miller up the left side and waited for Reyes, who beat a defender to create a 2-on-1. Reyes had a clear path to the goal, and she went forehand-backhand to record the third multi-goal game of her career.
The Warriors cut the lead to one just over a minute into the third period, as Katelyn Rae got a loose puck in the slot and took a backhand shot that got through Shelly’s blocker side, but the Saints allowed a total of just three shots in the third period to preserve the win.
The two teams will face each other once again on Saturday with a 2 p.m. opening faceoff at Lawler Rink.
