WORCESTER, Mass. - The Holy Cross women's ice hockey hosted No.12 Vermont for a Friday night Hockey East face off. The Crusaders and the Catamounts battled all the way through regulation to enter into Holy Cross's seventh overtime game of the season. Holy Cross pulled out the 3-2 win in OT for their fourth win over the Catamounts in program history.
After a scoreless first period, the Catamounts struck first with a goal two minutes into the second period. The Crusaders replied at 8:54 to with a power-play goal scored by sophomore forward Alexis Perry for her fifth goal of the season. She was assisted by sophomore defenseman Casey Borgiel and sophomore forward Alexia Moreau. The Crusaders claimed the lead four minutes later with a goal by Moreau on the power-play. She was assisted by senior forward Millie Sirum. Just before the period concluded Vermont equalized the score to end second with a 2-2 result.
Neither team was able to take the lead and score in the third period which sent the Crusaders to their seventh overtime game of the year. Holy Cross took a total of six shots before Sirum stole the puck from a battle along the boards and buried the puck in the top left corner of the net for her second overtime game winning goal at 3:44.
"Really great gutsy team win for our group tonight. Outstanding job by Maddie Beck again and a fantastic finish in the overtime by Millie," said head coach Katie Lachapelle. "The team continues to play really disciplined and detailed hockey together. Great game for our D group. A fantastic effort overall from everyone."
HOW IT HAPPENED:
- Neither team scored in the first period
- In the second period, Vermont got on the board first with a goal at 2:01. The Crusaders answered back with a power-play goal by Perry at 8:54. Moreau claimed the lead for the Crusaders at 12:47 on the power-play for the 2-1 result. The Catamounts tied the game at 16:30 to end the second period
- Neither team scored in the third period to send the game into overtime. This marks the Crusaders seventh overtime in the nine games played this season
- Sirum netted the game winning goal at 3:44 in overtime to lead the Crusaders to victory 3-2.
- Holy Cross led the Vermont in shot attempts, 63-50
BEYOND THE BOX SCORE:
- Sirum netted her second overtime game winner of the season and her fourth goal of the season. She also had one assist in the competition
- Moreau scored a goal and had an assist in the game
- Perry scored her fifth goal on the year to continue to be the Crusaders leading scorer
- Junior defenseman Emilie Fortunato led the Crusaders in blocks with three on the competition
- Senior goalie Madison Beck made 21 saves to 23 shots faced
PLAYER QUOTES:
"UVM is always a tough game and they have a lot of really skilled and really fast players. So I think, as a whole, our entire team fought through the whole 60 minutes plus the OT, which we keep on coming into. It was really fun to get that OT winner again. It's still early in the season, we gotta keep building and keep winning more games against the top teams. It was super exciting and great energy at the rink. A ton of fans and family are coming to support us. so we gotta keep winning games. We're pumped." #20 Millie Sirum
"I think this was a great game. We came out strong right from the start. We were having a lot of great chances in the first period, especially in the offensive zone. We just continued to build off that all game. It was a little back and forth goals wise, but we were able to manage our emotions, stay level headed and we just kept fighting away all game. It was all the little details in the corners and the O-zone, neutral zone and D-zone. Together as a team, we pulled off the win and this is exactly what we need to continue building on for the rest of the season and for next weekend." #29 Madison Beck
"I thought we played a great game. We played hard all throughout the 60 minutes. We battled hard. We've been to overtime many times, so I think just finishing it out felt really good for everyone. It was a great team win." #21 Alexis Perry
"I thought it was a really good game. I thought Vermont was a really good opposing team and I think we came out really strong. We've been doing really good. Overall our whole team played really, really well. Maddie Beck played unreal, like usual. I thought it was really big that we scored goals when they came back, and OT was really big. So we're really excited. Let's just keep it going." #11 Alexia Moreau
"I thought we had great energy out there. We had huge sticks on them. We were just all over them all the time, communicating with lots of confidence. And I think that we were moving our feet in the D-zone and beating that first layer. We just keep growing and keep building on every game. If we keep going this way, you're gonna see a lot of good things from our team." #6 Emilie Fortunato
UP NEXT:
Holy Cross return to action on Friday Nov. 10 when they travel to North Andover, Mass. for game one of a two-game series with Merrimack. Puck drop is scheduled for 6 p.m. at Lawler Rink.
