WORCESTER, Mass. - Junior forward and captain Kira Juodikis (LaSalle, Ontario) scored two goals to lead the University of New Hampshire women's hockey team to Thursday night's 4-2 victory against College of the Holy Cross at Hart Center Rink.
Freshman goaltender Sedona Blair (Eden Prairie, Minn.) made 11 of her 31 saves in the third period, including three when Holy Cross was skating with a 6-on-4 advantage late in the third period.
Sophomore Kelly Harty (Billerica, Mass.) scored the game-winning goal and junior Shea Verrier (Reading, Mass.) tallied an empty-net goal to secure the win. Grad student Rae Breton (Brighton, Ontario) was credited with two assists.
Holy Cross goalie Madison Beck made nine saves all three periods for a total of 27. Lulu Rourke and Lilly Feeney scored the Crusaders' goals.
UNH improved to 14-15-2 overall and 11-11-2 in Hockey East. HC is now 9-20-3, 4-17-3.
UP NEXT
- UNH and Holy Cross complete the home-and-home series Feb. 17 (2 p.m.) at the Whittemore Center at Key Auto Group Complex to celebrate Girls and Women in Sports Day.
- The first 200 kids will receive a Wildcat headband and there will be a pregame six-member panel discussing women in college athletics from 1-1:45 p.m. in the Skybox Lounge.
- Purchase tickets online at unhwildcats.com, by calling (603) 862-4000 or by visiting the Whittemore Center ticket office.
FIRST PERIOD
- UNH recorded a 10-9 shot advantage and the teams skated to a 1-1 tie through 20 minutes.
- Juodikis gave the Wildcats a 1-0 lead at 4:16 when her one-times from the slot off Breton's return pass from the right circle beat Beck. Brooke Hammer (Commerce Township, Mich.) initiated the scoring sequence by entering the zone on the left wing and centering the puck to Juodikis.
- Rourke tied the score, 1-1, with 61 seconds on the clock.
SECOND PERIOD
- Holy Cross had a 13-11 edge in shots but was outscored 2-1 in the second stanza.
- UNH scored goals 71 seconds apart to quickly build a 3-1 advantage.
- Juodikis scored her second goal of the night at 5:07 when she snuck around a scrum in front of the net to the left post and tucked puck into the open near side of the net. Nicole Kelly (Brantford, Ontario), who carried the puck into the zone, and Breton, whose initial two shots were stopped by Beck, were credited with the assists.
- Harty extended the lead to 3-1 at 6:18. Danika Botterill (Portage La Prairie, Manitoba) threw the puck on net from the goal line extended on the right wing. Mikah Baptiste (Ottawa, Ontario) chipped the puck in front from the right doorstep. Harty skated onto the loose puck at the top of the crease and lifted a shot inside the left post for her first goal of the season.
- Feeney trimmed the deficit to 3-2 at 9:40.
THIRD PERIOD
- The Crusaders tallied an 11-10 shot advantage in the final frame.
- With 47 seconds remaining on a power play, Holy Cross pulled Beck in favor of an extra skater to create a 6-on-4 advantage.
- Blair stopped Charlotte Sonntag's initial shot at 17:38 and also denied her off the rebound. Moments later, the UNH netminder also turned aside a shot off the stick of Casey Borgiel.
- Verrier intercepted a pass in the defensive zone and, from the middle of the blue line, sent the puck the length of the ice into the empty net to give UNH a 4-2 lead with 1:48 remaining.
GAME NOTEBOOK
- Holy Cross finished with the slight edge in both shots (33-31) and faceoffs (27-26).
- UNH was scoreless on three power plays and the Wildcats' penalty kill was perfect on four Holy Cross power plays.
- The 'Cats were credited with 17 blocks while HC blocked 12 shot attempts.
UNH NOTEBOOK
- Breton, the reigning Army ROTC Defender of the week, finished with two assists, game-high five blocks and a +3 plus/minus rating.
- Juodikis scored multiple goals in a game for the third time this season and ninth career.
- She has a team-high 13 goals and moved into a tie atop the points leaderboard with Verrier at 21.
- Juodikis was one of six Wildcats with two blocks.
- Kelly led the 'Cats with seven faceoff wins. She has tallied a point five of the last six games with six goals and an assist for seven points in that span.
- Hammer has recorded a point five of her last six games with one goal and five assists for a total of six points in that span.
- Baptiste now has two points as a Wildcat, both on assists.
- It was the first career assist for Botterill; she has also scored two goals.
SERIES NOTEBOOK
- UNH has an 18-1-0 lifetime record against Holy Cross that includes 8-1-0 on the road.
- The Wildcats extended their win streak vs. the Crusaders to 10 games.
