Steiner’s Empty Netter Sends Women’s Hockey Past Salve Regina, 3-2

EAST BOSTON – With 10 seconds remaining in regulation and the score locked at 2-all, Leslie Steiner broke up a Seahawks pass on the penalty kill and sent the puck from below the hash marks to Salve Regina's zone where it deposited into the empty net to push Suffolk women's hockey to a 3-2 Commonwealth Coast Conference victory Friday night at Louis E. Porrazzo Memorial Skating Rink. 

THE BASICS
SCORE: Suffolk 2 | Salve Regina 3
RECORDS: Suffolk (14-5-2, 12-1-2 CCC) | Salve Regina (9-12-0, 4-11-0 CCC)  

HOW IT HAPPENED
Steiner started the scoring for Suffolk 16:31 into the opening period. When the Seahawks were trying to clear their zone, Miranda Gaudet regained possession for the Rams, tipped the puck to Taylor Nowak, who charged the net. Nowak drop-passed to Steiner for a quick shot that sailed past Sydney Baxter to send Suffolk into the first intermission up, 1-0.  

Samantha McKenzie lit the lamp at 11:26 of the second stanza with help from Morgan Peritz and Riley Esposito to level the playing field at 1-all as the teams headed to the locker room for the second time.  

Suffolk managed to capitalize on its fourth power play of the night. At the center of the blue line, Liliana Moose received a pass from Gaudet and sent a slap shot towards the cage. Baxter denied the initial attempt, but could not stop Shana Cote's rebound. The graduate student pushed the Rams in front once again, 2-1, with just 3:33 removed from the third period. 

As time winded down, Esposito made a critical steal in the Rams zone that turned into the game-tying goal with 1:20 left on the clock.  

The pace picked up as time winded down and overtime loomed. A whistle blew with just 22 seconds left and Madison Ricardo was whistled for tripping. 

The Seahawks took Baxter out from between the pipes to make it 6-on-4 for the final 20-plus seconds. Steiner draped on the hero cape after a deflection in front of the Rams net. She picked it up and fired it nearly the entire length of the ice for what turned into a no-doubter goal when it crossed the blue line to push Suffolk ahead, 3-2, with eight seconds remaining. 

Baxter returned to her post and Jesse Kennedy won the face off to seal the thrilling win for the Rams. 

NETMINDER NOTES

• Julia McLellan had 16 saves in the victory.
• Baxter registered 31 stops in the setback.  

STATISICALLY SPEAKING

• Steiner led the way for Suffolk with a two-goal performance. 
• Cote chipped in one goal. 
• Gaudent logged two handouts. 
• Moose and Nowak had one assist apiece. 
• Suffolk held the upper hand in shots, 34-18. 
• The Seahawks edged out the Rams at the face off dot, 28-26. 
• The Rams went 1-for-5 on the power play and successfully skated off four penalties. 

NOTEWORTHY

• Suffolk is unbeaten 6-0-0 all-time versus Salve Regina.
• Four of the six outings between the Rams and Seahawks have been shutouts. 
• At home, Suffolk sports a 3-0-0 record versus SRU. 
• Suffolk has outscored SRU 20-4 in the all-time meetings. 
• Steiner produced a career-high two goals. 
• Steiner tallied her first empty net goal of her collegiate career. 
• Steiner recorded her third game-winning goal of the season. 
• McLellan remains unbeaten (2-0-1) in net this year.  

POST-GAME PIC
 

WHAT'S NEXT?
Suffolk heads to Beverly, Massachusetts tomorrow, Saturday, Feb. 11 for a 3 p.m. CCC clash at Endicott.