Week 4 out East brought us some surprises no doubt, but it seemed like nothing ranked-team wise was affected as the polls stayed relatively the same from last week. However, we had some matchups I said to keep an eye on, which turned out to be great ones, along with some other conference-play action!
CCC
#15 Endicott vs Western New England
My featured weekend series was #15 Endicott vs Western New England, a home and home series with two teams looking to make a CCC title run. On the one side, we’ve got Endicott, who’s looking to get back atop the conference and find themselves back in the NCAA tournament. On the other hand, we’ve got Western New England who beat a ranked-Endicott team last season for their first-ever ranked win in program history.
Over the weekend we saw the teams split the series, the Gulls winning game one 4-3 with a last-minute goal (19:39) by Maggie Lynch in the 3rd period. Then on Saturday the Golden Bears won it in overtime, Alyssa Murphy scoring at the 1:05 mark to give WNE a crucial CCC victory. Murphy had 3 goals in the series, 2 on Fri, 1 on Sat.
Suffolk vs Nichols
Suffolk had a surprise sweep over Nichols who was off to a hot start. Suffolk entered the weekend 0-4, I said this wasn’t a must-win series for them on paper, but mentally, starting 0-6 under a new head coach is never ideal for any program, especially one that has conference championship hopes in their mind, considering they’re the current defending champs.
The Rams got it done both days, winning 3-2 & 5-0, Kellie Popkin led the way with 4 points (2G 2A) including a shorthanded goal.
Another surprise, UNE remains a contender through week 4 in CCC play. They defeated Curry 4-1 & tied them 3-3. UNE now has an intriguing weekend series with the undefeated Salve Regina (4-0).
NEHC
No real surprises occurred in the competitive NEHC over the weekend, #13 Norwich handled business, getting back on track it seems after their tough 0-2 start. Their victory over rival #14 Elmira likely propelled them confidence-wise. They defeated UMass-Boston 5-1 and Johnson & Wales 5-0.
#14 Elmira did as expected, shutting out Salem State 5-0 and outshooting them 61-6, then shutting out Univ. Southern Maine 4-0, outshooting them 57-12. This seems to be on trend with Elmira last season, they tend to heavily outshoot weaker opponents and win these games handily, they just need to transfer that success to the big games they’ll face the rest of the way.
Other Notable Results:
Friday:
Univ. Southern Maine 1-0 William Smith
Johnson & Wales 2-1 New England College
Saturday:
William Smith 6-0 Salem State
UMass-Boston 1-0 New England College
SUNYAC
In the SUNYAC, as like the NEHC, everything went to plan with nothing major occurring. Here are your results:
#3 Plattsburgh shutout Buffalo State 6-0 & defeated Morrisville 6-1.
#11 Cortland swept Canton, winning 3-0 & 3-1.
Oswego defeated Morrisville 5-1.
Plattsburgh has their first real test of the year Tuesday 11/14 (today) against #13 Norwich at home, it’ll be an interesting watch, but I’ve got the Cardinals winning by a decent margin, my prediction would be 5-2.
UCHC
The UCHC has been one of the most entertaining conferences thus far. We’ve got Utica charging to the highest rank in program history, a young Nazareth team that looks to carry on its UCHC winning traditions, Chatham who’s unbeaten, and Wilkes, a name you may not think of at first when you think of competition if you only look at last season.
#8 Utica vs Wilkes
Wilkes, a team who heavily recruited Canadian-born players this offseason, is very much improved. Last season, the games between these two ended 4-0 & 6-1. This year, they ended 0-0 (Utica 1-0 shootout) & 7-1. Now, some may be quick to jump at the 7-1, but the fact Wilkes tied Utica in game one on the road is remarkable for the program, showing how far it’s come in just one season.
The player of the game in my opinion for game one was Wilkes goaltender Audrey Milne, she made 54 saves in the shutout tie and the only goal given up unofficially on the stat sheet was in the shootout. Angela Hawthorne made 22 saves on 22 shots for the Pioneers on Friday.
Chatham vs Manhattanville
Here’s two wildcard teams facing off in the conference. Chatham, a team two years ago who had their best season ever as a program, last season, a down-year from the year prior, but not as low as their historical numbers. Manhattanville, a team with goal scorer Gabrielle Cox, always has a chance to win games.
Chatham got the massive weekend sweep to remain unbeaten (3-0-1), they now have Stevenson & Hilbert, three games that are very winnable and could potentially have them sitting at 6-0-1 with Nazareth on deck for a pair of home games… Things could be interesting for the Cougars in these next three weeks.
On Friday, Chatham won 2-1, Allison Corser-James scored both goals on the powerplay (2:29 of the 2nd, 10:43 of the 3rd), while her teammates Ally Nolan & Brooke Almond, both assisted on the two goals. Gabrielle Cox scored the lone Valliant’s goal at 5:11 of the 2nd.
On Saturday, Corser-James didn’t slow down. She scored the game-tying goal at the 14:37 mark of the 2nd period, (funny enough, Chatham scored their 1st & 2nd goals a whole 7 SECONDS apart: 14:30 & 14:37). Corser-James then buried the overtime winner in the last minute at the 4:06 mark to send Chatham home with a pair of W’s.
Head Coach Michael O’Grady must be pleased with his team, they’re on pace, and more than have the ability, to have a special season in the UCHC.
Other Notable Results:
Friday:
#12 Nazareth 4-0 King’s College
Lebanon Valley 5-3 Stevenson
Arcadia 3-0 Alvernia
Saturday:
#12 Nazareth 4-0 King’s College
Stevenson 3-1 Lebanon Valley
Alvernia 1-0 Arcadia
