It was an exciting game from the Oswego State women’s ice hockey team after securing a 3-0 win over the Utica Pioneers last Friday, Nov 7. 

Still coming off of the high of their win the previous weekend against Castleton – another nail-biter of a match – the Lakers took to the ice with energy and poise. Oswego took the opening face off of the first period. Lauren Riccobelli, #13, stepped off the bench with the same commanding presence she has had the last few games, quickly taking control of the puck and driving it into the Pioneers’ zone. Accompanying her with an equally impressive presence was Jenna Majewski, #19, who fought hard to keep the Lakers on the offensive. In her struggle to maintain the puck, Majewski gave a hard body check to Utica’s Samantha Dobrzynski, but went without a penalty. A penalty was given, however,  to Elizabeth Cooley of the Lakers for slashing shortly after.

The first period came to a scoreless end following a lot of back and forth. For the opening of the second, the Lakers took a jarring offensive. Maintaining this throughout the majority of the period, Coach Mark Digby made the surprising choice to pull goalie Mia DeVivo. Although unable to make anything of the extra skater on the ice, the Lakers kept their offense strong with several shots on Utica’s #44, Katherine Sheahan. The shots were without success until 12 minutes into the period when Erika Parenti scored a clean goal through an unattended side of Sheahan’s net. The Lakers then kept the offense with renewed energy, but were unable to capitalize on it before the clock ran out.

The home team stormed the ice for the final period of the game on a power play. Despite this, the Lakers were unable to score, but made up for the missed opportunity shortly after when all of Riccobelli’s fighting finally paid off. Riccobelli scored not long into the period, sending the puck through Sheahan’s five-hole. Utica then briefly gained control of the puck, but was no match for the suddenly sharp the Lakers defense. The Lakers quickly swiped the puck back and continued to outmaneuver their opponent. Majewski made another appearance on the ice shortly before getting a penalty for body checking. However, this did not slow the team down by any means, despite having to end the game a player down. The odds were looking good for the Lakers as the clock reached less than a minute, then improved with 38 seconds left in a strangely similar scene from the week before, when Georgia Cunliffe scored her second goal of the season, ending the game 3-0 for Oswego.