Nov. 26, 2005

Stats

DETROIT, Mich. - The Wayne State women's hockey team (6-8-2) earned a 4-3 victory over St. Cloud State (3-10-1) at City Sports Center Arena on Saturday, completing its second straight home series sweep.

Wayne State took at 1-0 lead just 2:10 into the first period, as Melissa Boal (Pakenham, Ont./Ottawa Raiders) recorded her eighth goal of the season. Sarah Campbell (Smithers, B.C./Vancouver Griffins) dug the puck out of a crowd along the boards and sent it up to Lindsay DiPietro (Manotick, Ont./Ottawa Lady Senators), who found Boal on a nice centering pass.

SCSU's Kristy Oonincx answered with a pair of goals to send her team into the locker room with a 2-1 lead after the first 20 minutes of play, despite Wayne State's 13 shots on goal in the period to St. Cloud's seven

She netted her first of the game and fourth of the season at 12:23 on a three-skater rush, as quick passes from teammates Laura Fast and Denelle Maguet set Oonincx up for an open shot on Warrior goaltender Valery Turcotte (Jonquiere, Que./Royal Metabetchouan).

Oonincx would score her second of the game on a power play at 13:36, deflecting a long-distance wrist shot from Ashley Stewart past Turcotte. Hailey Clarkson also earned an assist on the play.

DiPietro knotted the score at 2-2 with her eighth goal of the season at 4:12 of the second period. Boal assisted on the play, as she created a turnover behind the SCSU net and sent a backhand pass in front to DiPietro, who beat St. Cloud goaltender Lauri St. Jacques on the near post.

Sam Poyton scored twice within the first five minutes of the third period to give the Warriors a 4-2 lead. Her first came on a power play, as DiPietro sent a pass into the top corner to Boal, who found Poyton on the other side of the crease for the open shot.

Peyton Patterson (Brampton, Ont./Stoney Creek Sabres) cleared the puck out of the WSU zone, and Laura Monk (Mississauga, Ont./Stoney Creek Sabres) pushed it along the boards to a racing Poyton, who made a nice move on St. Jacques and scored on the backhand at 4:26.

Turcotte helped preserve the lead for the Warriors in the final period, as she stopped eight straight shots, including a brilliant diving stop on a breakaway by Clarkson with under four minutes to play. Turcotte and St. Jacques each had 20 saves in the game.

Ashley Stewart nearly scored at the 1:38 mark, but the goal was disallowed due to the net being dislodged. With that, the Huskies took a timeout and opted to pull St. Jacques in favor of an extra attacker. After a WSU penalty, St. Cloud held a two-skater advantage for the final 71 seconds. Stewart was able to narrow the Warrior lead to 4-3, but only one second remained on the clock, and Wayne State had the victory in hand.

With her 12 goals on the season, Poyton is now the school's all-time leader for goals in a single-season by a rookie. Boal's 13 assists move her into a tie-for-first on WSU's all-time rookie assists list.

The Warriors are idle next weekend before traveling to Princeton for a two-game series, Dec. 9-10.