SCHENECTADY, N.Y. – Freshman Ève-Audrey Picard scored her first two collegiate goals, while
Mackenzie MacNeil added two of her own and senior
Madison Litchfield made 21 saves as the Vermont women's hockey team knocked off Union 5-1 at Messa Rink on Tuesday evening.
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The season-opening win puts the Catamounts at 1-0-0, while Union drops to 0-3-0.
"I'm pleased with our effort and result tonight," said head coach
Jim Plumer. "We are focused on building a solid foundation early in the season and this was most definitely a great start. We were solid in all three zones, Madi Litchfield was very good in net and it was great to see us bury some chances."
Picard opened the scoring for UVM with a power play tally at the 18:43 mark of the opening period. With less than 15 seconds remaining on the advantage,
Daria O'Neill found
Taylor Willard in the high slot, getting off a shot that was turned aside by Union goalie Kate Spooner. Picard picked up the rebound on the doorstep and went stick-side for the goal.
Vermont doubled its lead, once again on the power play, just over five minutes into the middle stanza.
Alyssa Gorecki began the sequence by driving to goal, being denied by Spooner. After
Victoria Andreakos followed with an attempt in the crease, the puck ricocheted back toward the point, where Willard wound up in front of a screened Spooner to move the score to 2-0.
The Dutchwomen then got on the board with 9:13 remaining on the clock. While in the final stages of a power play, Caitlyn McLaren had a shot blocked, corralling the puck and flicking it into the back of the net to cut UVM's lead to 2-1.
Picard added another for the Catamounts at 18:07 after receiving a feed from Andreakos. The play began when O'Neill struck from the left point, sending a shot wide. Andreakos grabbed the puck behind the net and left it for Picard, who came in front to the right of Spooner and tapped it home.
Vermont extended its lead to three early in the third period on MacNeil's first goal of the season. The junior chased down a loose puck along the left wing, ultimately skating into the offensive zone and firing a wrist shot past Spooner at 2:05.
MacNeil later sealed the victory with an empty net tally in the final minute of play.
UVM is back on the ice on Sunday, Oct. 9, hosting No. 9/10 Boston University at Gutterson Fieldhouse at 2 p.m.
The Windjammer and Upper Deck Pub is the presenting sponsor of the 2016-17 women's hockey season
