LAKE PLACID, N.Y. — Alex Woken (Fargo, N.D.) and Taylor Wente (Plymouth, Minn.) each scored, but it wasn’t enough as the U.S. Women’s Under-18 Select Team fell to Canada,5-2, in the final game of the 2015 Under-18 Series here this morning at the 1980 Herb Brooks Arena. Beth Larcom (Middletown, R.I.) and Alex Gulstene (Vancouver, Wash.) combined to stop 22 of 27 shots in the game. Team USA finished with a 1-2 record in the series.
“Our team competed hard all series and today was no different,” said Joel Johnson (White Bear Lake, Minn.), head coach of the U.S. Women’s Under-18 Select Team. “We did a lot of positive things in the game but it wasn’t enough to have things go in our favor. The series was a good building block and we’ll continue to grow from this.”
Woken, who drew a penalty shot after getting pulled down on a breakaway, opened the scoring at 9:38 of the first period when she beat Canada netminder Stephanie Neatby with a shot over her glove hand. Just 25 seconds later, Wente picked up a loose puck and raced down the right boards before cutting to the net and firing one home between the arm and blocker.
Canada scored twice on the power play later in the period and the first 20 minutes ended in a 2-2 deadlock.
Canada scored the lone goal of the middle stanza to take a 3-2 lead after two periods and tallied the only two goals of the third frame to account for the 5-2 final.
Notes: Canada outshot the U.S. 27-26 in the game. The Under-18 Series has been held annually since 2007. Further information on the Under-18 series can be found here.
