Stephanie Moberg scored three goals and added an assist Saturday afternoon as the Plattsburgh State women’s hockey team advanced to the ECAC-West Championship game with a 5-2 win over Utica College.
Her four points, coupled with a timely goal by Teal Gove, powered the Lady Cards through a game where it was hard to gather any momentum. The Pioneers were whistled for seven penalties, the Lady Cards just four, but one was a five-minute major for boarding.
“We didn’t have too many five-on-five chances, but once we were playing five-on-five for the last bit of the second and the majority of the third, I thought we played a lot better,” Gove said. “It’s just hard to get into that rhythm when you’re not playing five-on-five the majority of the game.”
Gove took advantage of some five-on-five play late in the second period.
Utica defenseman MacKenzie Roy tried to settle a bouncing puck at her own blue line but failed as the puck jumped over her stick.
Gove raced past the flat-footed Roy and was in for a two-on-one with linemate Jordan Caldwell. She waited for the defenseman to go down, taking away the pass before firing a wrist shot past goalie Jill Doherty short-side for a 3-2 lead with 13 seconds remaining.
“It’s great when a freshman steps up and buries a big goal and we needed one,” Moberg said. “It definitely pushed the momentum forward for us and was great to see her do well.”
The goal wasn’t the first time she’s struck with little time showing against Utica.
In the last meeting between the two teams at Utica, Gove found the back of the net twice in the final minute of a period.
The second pushed the game into overtime and allowed the Lady Cards to squeak out a tie.
This time it gave them the lead for good.
Moberg opened the scoring at the 6:21 mark of the first with a power-play tally.
Erika Shaubel worked the puck along the wall to Steph Moon, who took a shot from the circle. Moberg had already moved in from her left point position, so when the rebound came, she was there to put it home.
Then, early in the second, she added her second for a 2-0 lead, this one on the penalty kill.
With Kara Buehler in the box serving her five-minute major for boarding just 29 seconds in, Moberg and Brittany Meade went to work.
The two worked hard for an early clear and then pursued the puck hard in the Utica zone until Meade intercepted an attempted clearing pass at the blue line. She fed Moberg in front for a quick deke before putting it up high just 22 seconds into the penalty and 51 seconds into the period.
The short-handed marker was just PSUC’s fourth of the season. Moberg has two.
“We were up 1-0 and we got five minutes to kill off,” she said. “If we can produce some offense that’s great, but if not, just play great D zone and hopefully come out in five minutes still up one.”
Utica capitalized once during the Buehler penalty when Tiffany Bichrest netted her fifth of the season, bringing the Pioneers back to within one.
Then eight minutes later, Jodie Galluzzi scored short-handed to level the score at 2-all. The marker was the first short-handed goal against the Lady Cards this season.
Goalie Mandy Mackrell appeared to have the puck covered, but with players jamming away, the puck crossed the line before the official blew the whistle.
“He said it was in. He blew his whistle after it was in,” PSUC Head Coach Kevin Houle said. “I can’t argue with him because it’s his call.”
Kate Fairfield extended the Lady Cardinal lead to 4-2 nine minutes into the third.
Meade fed Moberg a pass in the slot. She got tied up with a Utica player, lost the puck in her skates, spun around and sent a shot toward the net. Fairfield got in the way, stopped the puck and slipped a backhand past Doherty for her seventh of the season.
Moberg finished her hat trick with an empty-netter with 32 seconds remaining.
Despite coming away with the win, the Lady Cards allowed 30 shots on goal and had trouble early in the game getting any consistent pressure
“I just think we didn’t play well,” Houle said. “I just think we were out of sync. I don’t know if it was all the penalties. We never got in the flow. You get in a tight game and people start trying to do things themselves, and you can’t play that way.
“It needed to be different for today (not just tomorrow). I mean we could have lost that game.”
OVERTIME GOAL LIFTS ELMIRA OVER RIT
It wasn’t Elmira’s leading scorers Jamie Kivi or Jenna McCall who came through in the clutch for Elmira Saturday night.
It was freshman defenseman Madison Johnston.
The defenseman had only four goals entering the game, but when her shot from the point when in at 5:10 of overtime, she had lifted the Soaring Eagles past RIT, 2-1, in the second ECAC-West semifinal and into the championship.
“That goal was for all of our seniors,” she said.
Johnston received a pass from defense partner Tiffany Hart before letting a shot go from the point. The unintentionally high shot found its way past a screened Carley King for the game-winner. It was Johnston’s only shot on goal of the game.
It was RIT’s leading scorer, Sarah Dagg, that gave Johnston the opportunity for some late-night heroics.
With time clicking away on RIT’s season, Dagg dragged the puck from deep in the Elmira zone up the boards to the blue line and half way down the line before letting a slap shot go that found its way past a clueless Lauren Sullivan.
The goal gave RIT an obvious lift and the opened the game up considerably for the final five minutes.
“I thought about calling a time out to regroup, but luckily we held on till the end of the period and addressed it right away and we played to win in overtime,” Elmira Head Coach Greg Fargo said.
The Soaring Eagles were determined not to let the goal get the down and Fargo tried to keep the team looking forward in the intermission leading up to the overtime.
“I basically reiterated to them that what’s done is done and we have to move forward,” he said. “We just needed to keep doing what we do and play our game and winning will take care of itself. That was the case tonight. It’s nice to see our team get rewarded for that.”
It worked.
Elmira put four shots on net in the 5:10 of overtime, holding RIT to none.
Elmira freshman forward Jillayne DeBus scored Elmira’s first goal at the 1:15 mark of the second. Jenna McCall fed her a one-timer, which she connected on cleanly from the circle for a 1-0 lead.
The Soaring Eagles and Lady Cards will meet in the championship game for the eighth time.
Game time is 3 p.m. at Stafford Ice Arena.
“One thing we were talking about in the dressing room after the game was we have depth on our team,” McCall said. “Any night we can expect any player to play, we don’t have to depend on that one player. So that’s what has led to our success this year is our depth, and we can depend on anyone.”
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