WORCESTER, Mass. - The Holy Cross women's hockey team defeated Merrimack, 2-1, Thursday evening for its first win of the season and Katie Lachapelle's first career win as head coach.
The Crusaders were led by Jada Brenon and her 33 saves. Mary Edmonds scored her third goal of the season and Rachel Moore tallied her second, the game-winner. Paige McArthur picked up two assists and Sofia Smithson had one.
Holy Cross scored first when Edmonds beat the Warriors' Lea-Kristine Demers over her right shoulder at the 8:08 mark in the first period. Merrimack would tie it up just five minutes later off the stick of Mikyla Grant-Mentis.
The two sides played a scoreless second period before Moore notched the game-winner in the final frame. Brenon had 19 of her 33 saves in the third, including one sequence where, with under two minutes remaining, she came up with three stops, losing her stick, blocker, and helmet in the process as she dove all over her crease to keep Merrimack from tying it up.
SCORING SUMMARY:
1-0 HC (1st, 8:08, EV): McArthur pushed the puck forward to Edmonds who took it at the blue line, caught a Warrior defender sleeping, and went top shelf on Demers.
1-1 MER (1st, 14:33, PP): The Warriors tied things up thanks to their leading scorer, Grant-Mentis, on the power play.
2-1 HC (3rd, 8:12, EV): Smithson and McArthur connected on a couple nice passes and found a streaking Moore who got a shot off around her defender from the high slot, this time beating Demers over her left shoulder.
INSIDE THE NUMBERS:
- Edmonds now leads the team with three goals on the year.
- McArthur picked up her first multi-point game tonight as a Crusader and now has four assists on the year.
- Smithson's assist was her first collegiate point.
- Brenon's 33 saves bring her save percentage up to .930 over the last six games. She sits at .913 on the season.
UP NEXT:
The Crusaders will look for the series sweep over Merrimack when they travel to North Andover tomorrow at 6 p.m. for the second half of this home-and-home.
