ELMIRA COLLEGE WOMEN’S ICE HOCKEY GAME NOTES
7 ECAC West Championships
11 NCAA Tournament Appearances
THIS WEEKEND’S OPPONENT
3 NCAA National Championships
Last Time Out
The Elmira women continued to roll through their ECAC West schedule this past weekend when EC bested Chatham University by identical 4-1 scores on both Friday and Saturday. Although the victories ended up to be fairly comfortable margins, the Cougars kept things interesting late into both games. Olivia Nystrom ’16 broke the game open for EC on Friday, firing in two goals during the third period. Meghan Fonfara ’18 and Maddie Evangelous ’19 provided the offense on Saturday, as both players scored two goals, with each netting one on the power play. Maddy Jerolman ’19 also posted a big weekend with four points, three of which came in a career-high three-assist effort on Saturday.
Rookie Returns
It is safe to say that Elmira’s excellent crop of first-year players have had a major influence in helping the Soaring Eagles not miss a beat coming off its run to the Plattsburgh State National Championship Game a season ago. EC rookies have shown up on the score sheet in a big way, combining for 21 goals, 34 assists, and 55 points. The CARDINALS Class of 2019’s 55 points have accounted for just over a third of the team’s total (18-0-0, 11-0-0 ECAC West) scoring. The Soaring Eagles’ freshmen have been extremely hot of late, as Kristin Chivers ’19, Maddy Jerolman ’19 and Shannon Strawinski ’19 all carry point Saturday, January 30th, 2016 into the weekend, while Maddie Evangelous ’19 chipped in two goals in Murray Athletic Center Ice Arena -- Elmira, NY -- 3:00 p.m. streaks her last outing against Chatham.
Top-10 Defense Sunday, January 31st, 2016 Elmira has been near the top of the charts in terms of scoring defense throughout Murray Athletic Center Ice Arena -- Elmira, NY -- 3:00 p.m. the season. EC’s strong play on the back end continued this past weekend, as the
team conceded just two goals. On the year, the Soaring Eagles have conceded just 21 goals through 17 games, a 1.24 goals-against average that ranks third in NCAA Division III. It is the best defensive start for the program since EC allowed just 12 Time-Result goals through the first 17 games of its National Championship season in 2012-13. L, 1-4 In fact, this season is EC’s fifth-best defensive start in program history in terms of W, 7-2 goals allowed. W, 5-1 Unbeaten Streak Reaches 16 W, 4-0 With the two wins over Chatham, the Soaring Eagles stretched their unbeaten W, 4-1 streak to 16 straight games. Elmira is one of four teams in the country with douW, 2-1 ble-digit unbeaten streaks; Plattsburgh State leads the country at 18, while Adrian W, 3-1 College and the University of St. Thomas check in with 12. W, 2-1 W, 5-0 All-Time Series W, 3-2 Elmira slightly trails the overall series with Plattsburgh State, entering the weekend with a 19-26-3 record against its biggest rival. The two programs have unW, 2-1 questionably been the class of NCAA Division III Women’s Ice Hockey over recent W, 2-1 seasons, combining to win the last three National Championships. The Cardinals T, 2-2 OT have been nearly unbeatable in recent seasons, losing only three times dating W, 6-2 back to the 2013-14 campaign. However, all three of those losses have come W, 8-0 against Elmira. The Soaring Eagles went 2-3 against Plattsburgh a season ago, W, 4-1 sweeping a regular season two-game set on road ice, but falling to the Cardinals W, 4-1 in both the ECAC West Final and the National Championship Game. 3:00 p.m. Scouting Plattsburgh State 3:00 p.m. The Cardinals have been a juggernaut all year, as the two-time defending national 4:00 p.m. champions have begun the season with 18 consecutive victories. The program’s 3:00 p.m. overall winning streak is 29 games dating back to the aformentioned two-game 3:00 p.m. sweep Elmira scored over them last season. This weekend figures to be no easy 4:00 p.m. task for Elmira despite the home-ice advantage, as Plattsburgh holds a 37-1-2 7:00 p.m. record on the road over the last four seasons, including a 5-0-0 mark this season. 3:00 p.m. The lone loss during that stretch was a 2-0 shutout loss to EC at the MAC Ice Arena during the 2013-14 regular season. The Cardinals are laden with incredible TBA talent throughout the lineup, boasting the nation’s second-best scoring offense TBA (5.44 goals per game) and top power-play unit (31.9%). The two-headed monster TBA of second-year forwards Melissa Sheeran and Kayla Meneghin pace a squad that TBA boasts five players with 20-plus points on the year. Sheeran ranks second in the country with 37 points, while she sits in fourth in goals (19) and goals per game (1.06). Meneghin is no slouch either, ranking third in the nation with 36 points and fifth in goals (17). She has been especially lethal on the power play, sitting in a tie for the top spot in the nation with seven goals on the man advantage. As good as Plattsburgh has been in the goal scoring department, it has been even better preventing them. The Cardinals boast the nation’s best scoring defense at 0.44 goals allowed per game, as well as the best penalty kill (96.4%). Junior Camille Leonard ranks first in every goaltender category, posting a miniscule 0.38 goalsECSoaringEagles against average and a fantastic .978 save percentage.
2015-16 SCHEDULE (15-1-1, 10-0-0 ECAC WEST)
Day OCT. NOV. DEC. JAN. FEB. MAR.
Date 31 1 13 14 21 22 27 28 5 6 2 9 12 16 17 22 23 30 31 5 6 13 14 19 20 27 5 6 12
Opponent #6 Adrian #4 Norwich SUNY Cortland* SUNY Cortland* Utica* Utica* #3 Middlebury #9 Gustavus Adolphus SUNY Potsdam* SUNY Potsdam* Williams #9 Norwich #3/6 Amherst Neumann* Neumann* Chatham* Chatham* Plattsburgh State* Plattsburgh State* Buffalo State* Buffalo State* William Smith* William Smith* Oswego State* Oswego State* ECAC West Quarterfinals ECAC West Semifinals ECAC West Championship NCAA Quarterfinals
Home contests are bolded *Denotes ECAC West contest
ElmiraCollegeAthletics @ECSoaringEagles ECSportsInfo
Sports Information: Don Sherman (dsherman@elmira.edu); Dan DeCaria (ddecaria@elmira.edu); Travis Larner (tlarner@elmira.edu) Phone: 607.735.1131 Fax: 607.735.1768 Website: athletics.elmira.edu Address: One Park Place, Elmira, NY 14901