Wilkes Women's Ice Hockey Advances to NCAA Quarterfinals With Tight Win Over Adrian
WILKES-BARRE, Pa. – The Wilkes University women's ice hockey team secured a quarterfinal berth in the NCAA Division III national championship with a 2-1 win this afternoon against Adrian College at the Toyota Sportsplex in the first round of the tournament.
Led by a near-perfect outing by Audrey Milne (London, ON) as well as goals from Jordan Ferry (Bohemia, NY) and Abby Bush (Ottawa, ON), the Colonels move on to face Nazareth University next week.
With the win, the Navy and Gold move to 25-1-1 after clinching their first NCAA tournament victory in program history. Adrian finishes their season with a record of 24-6-0.
After a tightly contested opening 18 minutes in the first period, the Colonels lit the lamp first at 18:24 into the period. Ferry and Lily Zingaro (Collingwood, ON) combined for a great push on the transition, with the latter feeding Ferry with a drop pass.
On a wrist shot, Ferry flung the puck past the far side of Adrian netminder Kiera Stack to make it a 1-0 game moments before the end of the first period.
In the second period, the Colonels came out of the intermission flying. At 6:57, Bush made it 2-0 with the eventual game-winning goal.
Bush and Nina Hudakova (Košice, Slovakia/Hoosac Prep School) combined for a tic-tac-toe-esque play on a two-on-one situation, giving the hosts the two-goal lead.
Just under eight minutes later, Courtney Ben notched a tally on the power play, putting Adrian back in the game with her goal that cut the deficit to one. A mad scramble in front of the net saw the Bulldogs got a bounce in the crease of a stickless Milne, with Ben tucking the puck in.
In the third period, it was the goaltending show as Milne and Stack combined with 21 saves. Each side had numerous opportunities to either extend the lead or tie the game up, but the two netminders would come up large.
With their goaltender pulled in the final 90 seconds of play, Adrian searched for the equalizer but were unable to get a chance as the Colonels defense squandered any attempt of a late comeback.
Milne finished with 32 saves after an impressive day between the pipes. Gianna Pacilio (Franklinville, NJ/) was strong in the faceoff dot, winning 11 draws.
Stack ended the game with 27 total saves, while Riley Johnson led the Bulldogs with 13 faceoff wins. Paige Pomerleau had six shots on goal, a team lead.
The Colonels make the trip to Rochester next Saturday, March 21 for the quarterfinal matchup against Nazareth. Puck drop against the Golden Flyers is slated for 3 p.m. from the Tim Horton's Iceplex.
