O’Neil Saves Program Best in Women’s Hockey 2-2 Draw with Curry on Senior Night

BOSTON – Lily O'Neil registered a program-record 61-save effort to backstop Suffolk women's hockey to a 2-2 stalemate versus Commonwealth Coast Conference counterpart Curry Friday night at Louis E. Porrazzo Memorial Skating Rink. The Colonels took the shootout bragging rights, 2-0.   

THE BASICS
SCORE: Suffolk 2 | Curry 2
RECORDS: Suffolk (8-15-2, 7-9-2 CCC) | Curry (9-11-4, 5-8-4 CCC) 

HOW IT HAPPENEDSuffolk grabbed a one-goal edge in the first. Sydney Fascetta won the puck in a scrum on the boards, dished out to Bella Schmidt, who found a diving Anya Nichipor for a quick wrister that gave the Rams a 1-0 lead at the 8:57 mark of the first frame.

The Rams attempted to extend the edge in the middle period. Soleil Archambeault denied all 15 of the blue-and-gold's second period shots on target to hold the one-goal game intact after 40 minutes. 

Curry leveled the playing field 5:16 into the third. Grayson Goolgasian tucked away Hannah Berkowitz rebound to tie things at one apiece. Julia Small hand a hand on the game-tying goal as well. 

Five minutes later the Colonels had a chance to chip ahead on a 2-on-1 with O'Neil. The senior netminder denied back-to-back attempts -- first by Emily Bisbee and the second off Margot Oxman's stick -- to keep things locked at one at the midway point.  

Suffolk regained the upper hand at the 12:13 mark. In the neutral zone Elise Wainwright stole the puck off a Colonels' stick and zoomed back towards Curry's net. With a defender in front of the senior assistant captain, Wainwright slid a pass over to Maddie Gagliano, who wasted no time in taking a shot. The puck flew past Archambeault to push the blue-and-gold in front, 2-1. 

Curry continued to pester O'Neil in net. Small looked to put away her own rebound with a wrap-up with O'Neil out of place, but the captain dove across the pipes to make the save and maintain the one-goal margin. 

With just over two minutes left in regulation, Sammy Lassman went to the sin bin for tripping. The Colonels used their timeout to talk things over and after the huddle Archambeault left her place between the pipes to give Curry the extra skater boost.  

Six saves by O'Neil and four blocked shots by the Rams defense would not be enough as Danielle Reid found the back of the net on the power play with nine seconds left to even things at 2-all and force the extra session. 

O'Neil kept her hero cape on in the overtime period as she stopped all six of the Colonels attempts to preserve the crucial conference points. On the other end of the ice, Archambeault stopped the four Rams shots on target as well to have things end in a draw.  

NETMINDER NOTES

• O'Neils career-night ended with a 61-save effort. 
• Archambeault logged 32 saves.  

STATISTICALLY SPEAKING

• Nichipor and Gagliano scored one goal each Suffolk. 
• Fascetta, Schmidt and Wainwright had one assist each. 
• Curry commanded shots, 63-34, while the Rams won the face-off battle, 33-31. 
• Suffolk did not capitalize on its four power play opportunities. 
• Curry went 1-for-5 on the power play.  

NOTEWORTHY

• For the first time in the all-time series, Suffolk and Curry went to overtime. 
• The Rams played their third overtime game of the season. 
• Suffolk moved to 1-0-2 in OT outings this year and in the Abby Ostrom era. 
• Suffolk is 7-2-1 all-time against Curry. 
• The Rams are now 3-2-1 versus the Colonels in Eastie. 
• Under Ostrom's guidance, Suffolk is 1-1-1s against Curry. 
• The Rams have outscored the Colonels 45-15 all-time. 
• O'Neil had a program-best 61 saves. 
• Gagliano potted her fourth goal of the year. 
• Nichipor netted her third goal of the season. 
• Wainwright handed out her 11th assist of the campaign. 
• Schmidt set up her fifth goal of the year. 
• Fascetta factored into the scoring for the eighth time this season with her sixth assist. 
• Prior to puck drop, Suffolk recognized its five graduating players: Sydney Fascetta, Kellie Popkin, Wainwright, Vanessa Stuart and O'Neil. 

WHAT'S NEXT?
Suffolk awaits the official seeding of the 2024 CCC Women's Hockey Tournament, which will be released tomorrow night, Saturday, Feb. 17 following the conclusion of all regular season contests.