WILKES-BARRE – The Wilkes University women's ice hockey team scored three unanswered goals in the first period and goaltender Audrey Milne (London, ON) collected her third shutout of the season as the Colonels posted a 3-0 Middle Atlantic Conference (MAC) victory Friday night at the Toyota SportsPlex.
 
Wilkes improved to 11-4 overall and 9-2 in MAC games following its fifth home ice victory of the year. Neumann dropped to 4-8-2 overall and 3-6-2 in league contests.
 
Megan Bell (Waterloo, ON/St. David Catholic) put the Colonels on the board at the 15:41 mark of the first period as she found the back of the net off an assist from Jordan Ferry (Bohemia, NY). Less than a minutes later, Iida Laitinen (Jyväskylä, Finland) notched her fifth goal of the season on the power-play thanks to helpers from Renee Ng (Hong Kong, China/Mount Academy) and Bella Kaczorowski (Anchorage, AK/NAHA White). The Colonels finished off its three minute scoring stretch as Ng scored off assists from Anneke Bouma (Newcastle, ON) and Haylee Bouchard (Sioux Lookout, ON) to push the advantage to 3-0 after one.
 
The teams skated the rest of the second and third period scoreless as each goalie kept the puck out of the net for the final 40 minutes of play.
 
Wilkes controlled the puck in its offensive zone for most of the 60 minutes of play outshooting Neumann 57-7. The Colonels also had their way in the faceoff circle winning 33-of-54 attempts.
 
Milne was outstanding in net making seven saves including four in the second frame. Noelle Woodard finished with 54 stops in the loss.
 
The two teams play the second of the three-game series tomorrow (Saturday) at 3:30 p.m. at the Toyota Sportsplex. Wilkes will honor its senior class immediately following the end of the contest.