NORTH ANDOVER, Mass. – The Holy Cross women's hockey team took down Merrimack, 4-3, Friday evening to complete the first Hockey East weekend sweep in program history.
The Crusaders used four unanswered goals to grab a three-goal lead that was just too much for the Warriors to overcome. After Merrimack went up 1-0 in the first,
Carlie Magier scored her second of the year to tie it up, followed by goals from
Katie MacCuaig, Allison Attea, and
Antonia Matzka to give Holy Cross the 4-1 advantage by the 9:56 mark of the second period. The Warriors would score at the end of the second frame to make it 4-2 Crusaders headed into the third.
Merrimack added a third goal eight and a half minutes into the third, but Holy Cross would hold on the rest of the way. With 1:06 remaining in the game, the Warriors went on the power play and pulled their goalie for over a minute of six-on-four action. The Crusader defense held strong and
Jada Brenon came up with two more big saves to seal the victory.
Magier and
Paige McArthur led the team with two points each, Magier from a goal and an assist, while McArthur had two helpers.
Emma Lange, Rachel Moore, Sofia Smithson, Kailey Langefels, and
Mary Edmonds all also had assists on the night. Brenon made a season-high 44 saves in goal. Ten Crusaders recorded points on the night.
SCORING SUMMARY:
1-0 MC (1st, 11:56, PP): Courtney Maud gave Merrimack the early lead on the power play.
1-1 HC (1
st, 15:13, EV): Magier tied it up for Holy Cross when she tipped in a shot from McArthur after Langefels made a nice play to keep the puck in the offensive zone.
2-1 HC (1
st, 17:32, PP): The Crusaders scored their first power play goal since the second game of the season when MacCuaig redirected a shot from Lange.
3-1 HC (2
nd, 3:22, EV): Attea scored her first of the year when she knuckled one home from just inside the blue line off the feed from Magier and McArthur.
4-1 HC (2
nd, 9:56, EV): Matzka scored on a laser when Smithson won a faceoff straight to Moore who moved it over to Matzka and she drilled it home from the high slot.
4-2 MC (2
nd, 16:57, PP): Merrimack's leading scorer, Mikyla Grant-Mentis, narrowed the lead to two when she converted on the power play.
4-3 MC (3
rd, 8:38, PP): Chloe Cook made for a tense final 11 and a half minutes when she scored off an extended possession in the Holy Cross defensive zone.
INSIDE THE NUMBERS:
- Brenon's 44 saves tonight gave her a two-day total of 77. She had a .951 save percentage over the two games.
- McArthur totaled four assists over the two games against Merrimack, tying her for the team lead with six and pushing her to second on the team with six points.
- Edmonds' and Langefel's assists were each the first of their collegiate careers.
- Tonight's win marks the first time the Crusaders have won consecutive Hockey East games, two Hockey East games in a season, and gives them four conference points on the year, pushing them ahead of last year's total of three.
UP NEXT:
The Crusaders will have two full weeks off before taking on Northeastern on Friday, Nov. 29 at 7 p.m. in Boston.
