Suffolk University women’s hockey started its quest for a Conference of New England championship against the Western New England University Golden Bears Feb. 26, defeating the Golden Bears 4-1 in the first round of the CNE playoffs.
Having lost 4-2 at home to WNE Feb. 22 to end the regular season, the fifth-seeded Rams got the last laugh come playoff time as they knocked out the fourth-seeded Golden Bears.
“Game plan going in was to get a lot of shots on net,” said captain Sammy Lassman. “We had to start off strong and get the first goal. We just really wanted to set the tone and be the first to score.”
They were the first to score thanks to senior forward and assistant captain Sam Molind. She kicked off the scoring for the Rams 4:08 into the game, beating Golden Bears goalie Rachel Irving with assists from Anya Nichipor and Liliana Moose.
At the 10:25 mark of the first period, Laurel Potter doubled the lead to send the Rams into the locker room with a 2-0 lead after 20 minutes of action.
Molind would score again just 1:17 into the second period with Moose and Cassie Borowski picking up assists to make it 3-0 in favor of Suffolk. After Alyssa Murphy scored a few minutes into the third period to get WNE on the board, Molind iced the win for the Rams with an empty net goal with 1:50 remaining. The goal, her ninth of the season, also secured her first collegiate hat trick.
“She’s dominant. She’s always been the ‘Mr. Clutch’ on our team,” said Lassman. “She’s a solid playmaker, she knows how to score goals and she’s definitely a huge player on our team.”
While the Rams scored four goals on the offensive end, the defensive end held up against a potent Golden Bears offense. Suffolk goalie Katelyn Michals faced 39 shots from the WNE attack and stopped all but one of them, good for a .974 save percentage on the day.
Head coach Abby Ostrom emphasized the strong and reliable play from Michals when it was needed the most, as she has been a key cog of the team’s success this year.
“It’s an easy day defensively when you’ve got [Katelyn] in net,” said Ostrom. “I thought this was one of her best performances to date. She keeps getting better, she keeps bringing up the compete level even more. It’s really nice to have her back there.”
Both Ostrom and Lassman credited the play of the defense in front of Michals as well for limiting WNE to only one goal.
“I think our ‘D’ were a big part of the game,” said Lassman. “I think we held them off pretty well. In front of the net, we were blocking all kinds of shots and keeping bodies out of the crease and protecting our goalie.”
The CNE semifinals are next up for the Rams, with a road trip to face top-seeded Endicott College March 1. Suffolk and Endicott have clashed three times this season, with the nationally ranked Gulls prevailing two times.
Despite the Gulls being a tough opponent, both Ostrom and Lassman are confident the Rams can hang with Endicott all game.
“They might underestimate us or look at us like they can run us over, but we’re gonna come at them,” said Lassman. “Our last game with them was 2-2 until the last minute of the third, so we definitely think we can come out with a win if we just come out hard.”
