MANCHESTER N.H. – Sometimes when it comes to the final outcome of a hockey game, the difference is the way the puck bounces for one team, and on Friday night that was the case in the first game of the NEWHA Tournament Quarterfinals for seventh-seeded Post University Women's Ice Hockey. Contrary to the shot numbers, the Eagles played second-seeded Saint Anselm College evenly for all 60 minutes, but the difference in this one was two deflected pucks that found their way into the back of the net for the Hawks.
With the game tied at 1-1 late into the third, senior forward Abigail Blair's first goal of the season lifted the Hawks past the upset-minded Eagles, 2-1, with 55.1 seconds left to put Post on the brink of elimination heading into Saturday night's game two.
THE BASICS
Post University 1, Saint Anselm College 2
Post University (7-27-1)
Saint Anselm College (19-14-1)
HOW IT HAPPENED
It was senior goalie Grace Glasrud and freshman goalie Courtney Stagman going head-to-head in this matchup with both sides getting their fair share of offensive opportunities through the opening 20 minutes. While the Eagles were outshot 18-10 overall and 12-4 in shots on goal, numerous organized plays and strong defensive stands helped Post keep pace with the Hawks.
However, it was Saint Anselm who netted the first goal of the affair as senior defenseman Savannah Popick made a cross pass to sophomore forward Brooklyn Schniederhan in the center of the zone for the quick strike and score against Glasrud with 8:21 left in the first. The Hawks would hold on to that 1-0 lead into the second after killing off Post's first power-play of the game following a hooking penalty to junior forward Audrey Jackson with 1:07 remaining that carried over.
After that power-play ended, Post would get another man-up chance just over a minute and a half later which would lead to the equalizer. It would be junior forward Julia Wysocki finding freshman forward Macy Peterson for the deflection in front of Stagman, bringing the game to a 1-1 tie where it would remain for the rest of the second. A key part of that stagnant scoring was Glasrud who made a save from left to right with 15:05 left, robbing the Hawks of the go-ahead goal.
With time winding down in the third, the Hawks nearly had the go-ahead goal with under five minutes remaining from NEWHA Player of the Year Natalie Tulchinsky. Tulchinsky found some space in the center of the zone and had Glasrud beat but the puck hit the crossbar and went out of harm's way. Unable to generate offense in the third, Post would get just two shots on goal against Stagman, and with less than a minute to go, the persistent Saint Anselm offense netted the go-ahead goal.
With everyone crashing near Glasrud in the net, it was Blair who looked to throw the puck towards the crease for a shot. Before the puck got there, it seemingly deflected off freshman forward Celena Mickevicius as well as one other Eagle defender in front before skipping up and over the pad of Glasrud for the go-ahead goal with 55.1 seconds left to give Saint Anselm the first game in the best-of-three series, 2-1.
BY THE NUMBERS
- This is the second time this season in which Post University has scored power-play goals in back-to-back games – Earlier in the year the Eagles scored a power-play goal in four straight games from October 21st until November 3rd
- Playing in today's game, Angeline Pitter has now played in 100 career games over three seasons for Post University
- Saint Anselm has scored the first goal against Post University in each of the last 13 matchups between the two teams – The last time the Eagles scored first was the February 18th, 2020 loss in the NEWHA Tournament
- Post University is now 0-26-0 in the all-time series against Saint Anselm and 0-2-0 in the NEWHA Tournament against them – The first postseason matchup came during the 2019-20 season which was an 8-1 loss
WHO'S NEXT
Post University will look to force a decisive game three against Saint Anselm College tomorrow night at 7:00 PM right back at the Sullivan Arena.
