A trio of first-period goals propelled the No. 9 St. Lawrence Saints to a 4-0 win over ECAC foe Brown on Friday. The Saints improved to 9-3-2 in league play, while Brown dropped to 2-13-0 within the ECAC.
Senior assistant captain Jess Hon started the scoring for St. Lawrence at the midpoint of the first period, picking up a rebound from a Hannah Miller shot and tucking it past Julianne Landry.
A similar play generated a goal from Ellie Williams less than three minutes later. Alex Moore picked a puck up along the wall and cut to the middle before sending a pass across to Williams, whose wrist shot beat Landry top shelf.
At the 17:16 mark of the first period, Jenna Marks tucked the puck past Landry on a power play to give St. Lawrence a 3-0 lead. Landry was replaced by Monica Elvin in net after allowing three goals on 19 shots.
The second period saw no scoring, but plenty of chances for both teams. There were four power plays in the period, three for St. Lawrence and one for the Bears. Neither team could capitalize.
Six minutes into the third period, Saints captain Amanda Boulier protected the puck from a Brown defender on the blue line, then fired a slap shot that beat Elvin from long range to give the Saints a 4-0 lead.
“It was a great pass from Megan Armstrong and I put it on net; there was good presence in front from Raniwsky and Heidersbach,” said Boulier of her goal.
Elvin finished the game with 42 saves on 43 shots, and combined, the Brown goalies were forced to make 58 saves. Both coaches praised the efforts of the Brown goalies, especially under such conditions.
“62 shots is a pretty good day at the office,” said St. Lawrence coach Chris Wells.
“We’ve been on a bit of a streak here, and getting better every game,” said Boulier. “There’s great energy with the team, and we are starting to realize our potential as a team.”
Wells is also pleased with the direction of his team and with the Saints’ effort against Brown.
“That was probably one of our more complete efforts,” said Wells. “We got some depth scoring, and Carmen (MacDonald) made some saves when we needed her to.”
Brown coach Amy Bourbeau felt her team could have played better in the defensive zone, but liked the Bears’ offensive efforts.
“I thought we competed really hard and had some excellent chances to score,” said Bourbeau. “I thought we battled hard the entire game, but I’d like to see our team play a little better defensively.”
