SCHENECTADY, N.Y. – The Saint Anselm College women's ice hockey team put together a tremendous comeback bid, scoring five goals in the third period, but fell short in its opening contest of the Women's Ice Breaker Tournament, losing to Union College by a final score of 7-5 on Friday afternoon at the M&T Bank Center.

Highlights

• The Hawks scored three goals in the matter of 31 seconds in the third period, marking the fastest three goals scored since Feb. 10, 2024 when Saint Anselm scored three in 36 seconds at Saint Michael's College.
• Empire State native Lucy DeCoteau found the back of the net twice in the span of 23 seconds, including a powerplay goal.
• Senior captain Mackenzie Moss scored her first goal of the campaign.
• Junior Hailey Tullo scored her second goal of the season.
• Freshman Grace Stirling recorded her first collegiate goal, scoring on a redirection with 1:36 to play.
• Senior captain Brooklyn Schneiderhan posted a team-high two assists.
• Senior Ella Ridge led the Hawks with five blocked shots.
• Senior Sydney Merritt recorded a team-high +4 plus/minus rating.
• Freshman goalkeeper Kayla Czukoski made 43 saves over 50:30 of action.
• Sophomore netminder Julia Matyas made her collegiate debut. She made three stops in the final 9:27 of regulation.
• Saint Anselm went 1-for-3 on the powerplay while fending off both of the Garnet Chargers' powerplay opportunities.
• This marked the firse time the Hawks scored five goals in a period since Feb. 25, 2024 vs. Post.
• Five goals marked the most against a non-league, National Collegiate opponent in program history.

How it Happened

The Garnet Chargers were first on the board as Emma Fulawka scored on a rebound out in front to make it 1-0 just 4:18 into the first period. The hosts doubled their lead with 8:43 left in the first as Megan Duplantie finished on a rebound chance.

Union struck twice in the second period as Karianne Engelbert and Mikayla Blomquist scored to make it 4-0 after 40 minutes of play.

After a successful Saint Anselm penalty kill, Maddie Leaney's shot crossed the goal line to increase the Garnet Chargers' lead to five with 14:21 left in regulation. Just over three minutes later, Greta Kropp made it a six-goal lead for the home team.

Saint Anselm got on the board with 8:02 to play as sophomore Lucy DeCoteau fired a nearside wrister into the top corner to start a flurry of goals for the Hawks. DeCoteau added her second of the game just 23 seconds later as she collected a pass from senior captain Brooklyn Schneiderhan in the slot and tucked in another shot to make it a four-goal game. Eight seconds after, senior captain Mackenzie Moss took advantage of a Union turnover, scoring her first of the season, to cut the Hawks' deficit to three as the Hawks netted three goals in 31 seconds. Just over two minutes later, junior Hailey Tullo deked a Garnet Charger defender and scored to make it a 6-4 game with 5:14 to play.

Union put a halt to Saint Anselm's momentum as Duplantie added her second of the game to push the Hawks deficit back to three with 3:39 remaining.

Saint Anselm would strike once more with 1:36 to play as freshman Grace Stirling registered her first collegiate goal, deflecting in a shot from the point off the stick of junior Brenna Young.

Up Next

The Hawks (3-3-0, 3-0-0 NEWHA) will face off against the University of Vermont (1-3-1, 0-0-0 HEA) in the tournament's Consolation Game on Saturday, Oct. 18 at 12:07 p.m.