 "Photo: Ron Harper / Special to The South End")
In a split, physical series against the Vermont Catamounts, the Wayne State women’s hockey team won a dominating offensive game on Friday (5-2) and lost after a solid defensive performance on Saturday (1-2).
The Warriors played their first game of the new year without head coach Jim Fetter, who was selected as an assistant coach for Canada’s National Women’s Under-22 team. Assistant coaches Nicolette Franck and Allison Rutledge took control behind the bench.
On Friday night, the Warriors found their scoring touch after what is now the 10th scoreless first period of the season.
The Warriors scored five goals, one of which was an empty netter, with contributions by forwards Jill Szandzik, Alyssa Baldin, Micheline Frappier and Katrina Protopapas. Protopapas scored twice and tallied her career-high ninth goal of the season.
“Whenever you get a goal and you win the game ... I’m just happy about it.” Protopapas said.
On Saturday afternoon, Vermont’s Chelsea Rapin scored the first goal of the game on a power play midway through the first period. Rapin’s goal boosted her team’s confidence and helped gain momentum. Erin Wente scored the second goal for Vermont and put her team up by two.
Catamounts captain Chelsea Furlani went down after a check from behind by Wayne State’s Veronique Laramee-Paquette. Furlani was taken off the ice on a stretcher, while Laramee-Paquette was ejected for a game misconduct.
Penalties accumulated as the game progressed, with a combined total of 21 infractions. After battling through the majority of the second period shorthanded, the Warriors were impressive on the penalty kill. In total, there were 55 shots in the game, 41 of which were on power plays.
Defenseman Chelsea Burnett was the sole goal scorer for Wayne State who cut the Catamounts lead by one about a minute into the third. Burnett’s goal was scored top shelf from the blue line on a power play.
Despite their strong defense, the Warriors were unable to tie the game as Vermont snapped its eight-game losing streak and is now 6-14-1.
“I think they responded to some adversity pretty well,” assistant coach Rutledge said after Saturday’s game. “We had a really short bench and we lost players as the weekend went on, but overall I’m pretty happy with how we played.”
The Warriors, who now hold a record of 6-9-3, will play Robert Morris on Jan. 15-16 at home in the City Sports Center arena.
Injury Report
Freshman Julie Ingratta was injured on Friday after a hard hit. She is expected to be back next weekend.
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