Crossley’s late goal aids ‘Cats tie versus Providence

The University of New Hampshire women’s ice hockey team hosted an exciting contest to wrap up the home-and-home series between the Providence College Friars on Sunday afternoon at the Whittemore Center.

The Wildcats managed to take a point out of Sunday’s battle, tying 3-3. This tie came after New Hampshire downed Providence on the road on Friday, 6-4.

“We played well the last two periods with coming from behind and it was encouraging,” UNH head coach Brian McCloskey said about the team rally from a one-goal deficit to force overtime. “The girls had a no-quit attitude.”

Following the tie, New Hampshire moves to 13-14-3 overall and to 9-7-2 in Hockey East play. Providence moves to 14-12-5 and to 8-7-3 in Hockey East action.

“I prefer two points, but I was overall satisfied with the result,” McCloskey said.

The first period saw both teams come out swinging, as UNH and PC combined for a total of four goals.

The first goal came off the powerplay from forward Kristina Lavoie at 9:44 of the first. The goal was created when Katie Brock fired a shot from the point that was initially saved by Friars net-minder Rebecca Morse, but an edgy Lavoie fought through the opposing defense to pick up the rebound; allowing her to break free of Morse for the put-away goal.

A little over a minute later, Providence responded with a goal at 8:36 of the period from the stick of Nicole Anderson. A quick series of tape-to-tape passes along the right side of UNH goaltender Jenn Gilligan caught her off-guard as Anderson was able to put the puck away with a low shot hitting inside right post side. Jessica Vella and Maggie Pendleton were credited with assists on the play.

Less than three minutes later, Providence broke the tie with their second goal of the period coming from forward Brooke Simpson at 5:28. Corinne Buie found Simpson with a one-timer hitting low left side just out of a diving Gilligan’s reach.

New Hampshire responded back to tie up the game up at 2 with 2:45 remaining in the period as Bryanna Farris put away a rebound goal for her first goal of the season. The goal was created when Jessica Hitchcock fired a shot from the point hitting the pad of Morse, allowing Farris to slide the puck inside the goal line from the left side. 

At the end of the first period, New Hampshire and Providence were tied at two apiece.

On the other side of the ice, Providence remained on the attack offensively, but Gilligan took away most of their chances. The Friars were able to snag the only goal of the period courtesy of Corinne Buie, who one-timed it past Gilligan, beating her low left side with 5:29 left causing PC to take a 3-2 lead heading into the third period.

With the third period underway, New Hampshire battled hard to tie things up with Providence, blocking shots and creating scoring opportunities throughout consistently through the period.

All of UNH’s effort paid off, as it was able to come up with an equalizer late in the period as Alexis Crossley fired a slap shot from the point that trickled over the net took a funny bounce to the left post side, where an open Kayla Mork stood for the chip in rebound with 2:14 remaining in regulation.

Crossley’s goal was enough to send the game into overtime, where the Wildcats and Friars battled it out for five scoreless minutes.

Arielle O’Neill received a great opportunity 2:48 into overtime with an open net in front of her, but her shot slanted wide, just missing the right corner.

The Wildcats return to action on Wednesday, when UNH travels to Agganis Arena to face off against Boston University. Puck drop is slated for 7 p.m.