Seahawks down Cardinals

MIDDLETOWN, Conn.  (Jan. 20) - Avenging a 4-1 loss at home back on December 6, visiting Salve Regina built a 2-0 women's ice hockey lead heading into the third period and came away with a 3-1 victory over homestanding Wesleyan here tonight. Salve now leads the overall series with a 6-2 mark and takes to the ice again Fri., Jan. 23 at UMass Boston in an ECAC East matchup.  Wesleyan hosts NESCAC rival Conn. College Friday in its next start.

Senior Sarah Markey netted each of the first two Seahawk goals to give her squad its 2-0 cushion.  Her goal exactly at the midway point of the opening period came on a quick wrister from just inside the blue line as she received a pass from down low on the left from senior Taylor Shepherd, skated a few steps to her right and whisked a shot through traffic low to the right side of the net past Wesleyan junior keeper Laura Corcoran. At 11:05 of the middle stanza, with sophomore goalie Colleen Marcik on the bench for a sixth skater during a delayed penalty situation, Markey lit the lamp again, backhanding a rebound of a left-point shot from sophomore Amanda Cronin into a fairly open net from the slot.  Shepherd picked up an assist as well, her second of the game on Markey's fifth seasonal goal.

At 7:05 of the third period, Wesleyan leading scorer senior Jordan Schildhaus skated end-to end past the Salve defense, culminating in a rising backhander past Marcik from 10 feet away, cutting the gap to 2-1.  It upped Schildhaus to seven goals and 16 points on the season.  Though Wesleyan outshot its visitor in each period and 32-20 for the game, the Cardinals could not draw even, despite pulling Corcoran for the final 2:07 and enjoying a power play as well when Salve received a penalty with 1:59 remaining.  When the puck came free just inside the Seahawk blue line on the left side in the closing seconds, senior Michaela Chiuccariello gather it in and flung it the length of the ice into the open Wesleyan net with :02 on the clock for the 3-1 final.  It was her fifth goal of the year.

Marcik finished the game with 31 stops and improved her record to 5-5-1 on the year while Corcoran had 17 saves, falling to 4-3 on the season.