Kennedy Marchment scored two goals and Grace Harrison made 18 saves to lead the St. Lawrence University women’s hockey team to a 3-0 win over Penn State in a non-league contest at Pegula Ice Arena on Monday night in University Park, Pa.
It was a record-setting night for the Saints, who (14-0-1) broke the program record for longest unbeaten streak at 15 games and extended their winning streak to 11 games, one shy of the program record. The shutout is the Saints’ fourth in a row, setting another program record. And Harrison’s shutout was her sixth of the season, tying the program record less than halfway through the regular season.
St. Lawrence, which ranks first nationally in scoring defense, has not allowed a goal in 264 minutes, 49 seconds. The longest such streak in program history is 265:52.
Justine Reyes gave the Saints a 1-0 lead about halfway through the first period, picking up a loose puck on the half boards and circling towards the slot before sending in a backhanded shot at the lower left corner of the net. Penn State goaltender Hannah Ehresmann made the initial stop, but Reyes crashed the net and lifted a shot top shelf on the right side to score her seventh goal of the season.
Marchment gave the Saints a 2-0 lead with a power play goal on a wrist shot from the top of the right faceoff circle halfway through the second period. Brooke Webster started the play, picking up a loose puck on a blocked shot and wheeling it around behind the net to Marchment. Marchment fed Kirsten Padalis at the point, and Padalis skated towards the top of the slot before passing it back to Marchment, who fired the puck just inside the far post for her eight goal of the season.
With the assist, Webster tied the program record for longest point streak at 18 games. Webster hasn’t been kept off the scoresheet in a St. Lawrence game since Feb. 26, 2016, the first game of last season’s ECAC Hockey quarterfinal series with Princeton. Webster is now tied with Emilie Berlinguette ’06, who set the record during the 2004-05 season.
Marchment capped the scoring with an empty-net goal with less than two minutes to play, with Webster and Hannah Miller picking up assists.
The Saints outshot Penn State 37-18, including a 16-2 advantage in the second period.
“Penn State came out with some jump and we played an even first period,” said head coach Chris Wells ’92. “Our team really found our stride at the beginning of the second and played some of our best hockey.”
While Harrison wasn’t as busy as her Penn State counterpart, she was tested a number of times in the third period and stopped each opportunity to preserve the Saints’ shutout streak. She stopped one shot on a breakaway by Penn State captain Laura Bowman with her blocker in the early moments of the third period, and stopped five more during one minute, 16 second 5-on-3 advantage for Penn State in the third period.
Ehresmann made 34 saves for Penn State, which fell to 5-7-3.
The two teams will meet again on Tuesday afternoon at 3 p.m.
