The Plattsburgh State Women’s Ice Hockey Team will continue their quest for a seventh NCAA Championship as they play Adrian College today at 4 p.m. This will be their eighth-straight NCAA Division III Tournament Semifinal appearance.
The game will be in the Frozen Four semifinals in Mendota Heights, Minnesota.
The St. Thomas Tommies will play the Hamline Pipers in the other semifinal game.
The teams that lose will face off for third place on Saturday at 4 p.m. and the winners will compete for the NCAA Championship later that night at 8 p.m.
The Cardinals have faced off against Adrian College twice before this season. In the Nov. 24 Panther/Cardinal Classic, the Bulldogs bested them 0-1, then two months later in the East/West Hockey Classic on Jan. 4, PSUC took revenge with a 2-0 win.
In a review of these two games, both were low-scoring but high in penalties for both teams, with nine total in the Panther/Cardinal Classic and six in the East/West Hockey Classic. In the semifinals game, neither team is expected to be very lenient on the other.
The Cards enter tonight’s game after a win over Williams College in the quarterfinals last Saturday 5-3.
In the postgame press conference after the win, PSUC head coach Kevin Houle said,
“That was a great game, it was an exciting game for us to be involved in.”
PSUC had a rocky start to the game, with Adrian College scoring 19 seconds in.
In the press conference, senior forward Mackenzie Millen said the team was able to pull off the comeback against the Ephs thanks to its composure.
“That was pretty scary,” Millen said, “but I think the whole time we had the confidence we needed to make the plays we needed to and come back.”
The Cards had some penalties in this game as well, allowing Williams to score in the second period. With the second period almost over, Millen scored unassisted, bringing the Cards to the lead over Williams. The third period was stronger, as freshman forward Nicole Unsworth scored 12:41 into the period.
Unsworth said in the press conference,
“Both teams came out pretty hard and it was a tough battle and it was good to come out with a W.”
Houle was recently named a finalist for the CMM/AHCA Division III Coach of the Year Award. He is already a six-time winner of the award, having won in ‘06, ‘07, ‘08, ‘13, ‘14 and ‘16.
Senior forward Courtney Moriarity joins her coach in end-of-the-year awards with a Laura Hurd Award nomination.
Recipients of Laura Hurd award is given to the best women’s hockey player in Division III annually.
Moriarty has the resume to contend for the award by earning NEWHL’s Player of the Year award as well as ranking 15th in the nation in points per game with 1.34.
When asked about the semifinals on Friday, Houle said:
“We’ll be ready to play no matter who it is, and we’ll work hard next week,” Houle said. “We certainly have some unfinished business from last year, and we have a hungry group and five seniors that want to go out on top.”
