NCAA First Round: Women’s Hockey Falls at No. 7 Middlebury

MIDDLEBURY, Vt. – In a historic night in Suffolk women's hockey history, a postseason program record 41-save effort from Lily O'Neil would not be enough as the Rams' first-ever NCAA Tournament game ended in a 4-0 setback to No. 7 Middlebury in the first round of the national tournament Wednesday at Chip Kenyon '85 Arena. 

THE BASICS
SCORE: Suffolk 0 | No. 7 Middlebury 4
RECORDS: Suffolk (18-8-2) | No. 7 Middlebury (17-7-3) 

HOW IT HAPPENED
Suffolk saw a handful of chances throughout the first 20 minutes, but Middlebury controlled the tempo, out shooting the blue-and-gold 17-6.  Thankfully O'Neil carried momentum from her stellar CCC Championship performance into the outing to keep the Panthers quiet. 

After the one-minute remaining announce was head in Kenyon Rink, Britt Nawrocki received a go-ahead dish from Jenna Letterie. Nawrocki skated down the left side of the nice for a one-on-one with O'Neil and snapped one by the Rams' netminder with 35.4 seconds remaining in the first period to send Suffolk into the locker room down one.

The first penalty of the day was whistled against Suffolk and it paid off for the Panthers.  Second O'Neil was peppered with attempts and denied back-to-back pucks before falling to the ice, which allowed Avery McInerney to scoop the rebound and tuck it to the back of the net to double the distance 3:29 into the middle period. 

Suffolk had a great opportunity about five minutes later as Taylor Nowak went on a breakaway. Sophia Mergease managed to stop the attempt, however, the puck got away from the netminder. The Rams were unable to pick up the pieces though and the score remained 2-0 Middlebury.  

McInerny received a feed from Nawrocki of the forecheck and turned it into a wrist-shot goal, her second of the day, for the defending national champs to stretch the gap to three at the 16:19 mark of the second.

Just under six minutes into the third period Lettterie lit the lamp herself with a little, back-hand to forehand action to give Middlebury a comfortable four-goal cushion.

That margin stayed true the rest of the way as O'Neil turned aside the next 10 shots she faced to keep the Panthers scoring at bay and Meragease rejected Suffolk's last six shots for the shutout.

NETMINDER NOTES

• O'Neil finished with 41 saves.
• Mergease logged 22 stops in the cleansheet.

STATISCALLY SPEAKING

• Middlebury outshot Suffolk, 45-22, and scored at least one goal in each period.
• The Panthers went 1-for-1 on the power play, while Suffolk went o-for-1.
• Middlebury edged out the blue-and-gold at the face off dot, 31-30. 

NOTEWORTHY

• Suffolk made its NCAA Tournament debut.
• The Rams and Middlebury squared off for the first time.
• The five some of Shana Cote, Madison Duff, Jesse Kennedy, Natasha Savage and Kiley Searles, members of the inaugural Suffolk women's hockey team in 2018-19, wrapped up their collegiate careers after helping Suffolk secure the program's first-ever conference regular-season and postseason titles and reach the NCAA Tourney.
• O'Neil, who reset Suffolk's postseason save mark in the CCC Championship with 40 saves, adjusted the mark tonight by an additional stop.
• O'Neil is the first Suffolk goalie to have back-to-back 40-save performances.
• O'Neil reached the 40-save mark for the third time this season, 1 in her collegiate career.
• The 41 stops by O'Neil are the most by an institution's goaltender in the NCAA Tournament under the CCC umbrella.  

POST-GAME PIC