For the second straight night, Oswego State played even with defending NCAA Division III champion Plattsburgh State for one period, but the Cardinals broke the game open with four straight goals en route to a 5-2 victory in the second game of an ECAC Women's West division weekend series at the Ronald B. Stafford Ice Arena in Plattsburgh.
While the game marked the final regular-season contest for both teams, Plattsburgh and Oswego will meet again in the opening round of the ECAC Women's West playoffs, set to begin on Friday, February 27, The Cardinals (20-3-2, 15-3-0 ECAC West, runners-up in last year's tournament, finished third in the final standings and will host the Lakers (8-15-1, 5-12-1 ECAC West), who earned the final spot with a sixth-place finish and will make their first ever playoff appearance in only their third season as a varsity program.
Plattsburgh opened the scoring at the 5:53 mark of the first period with a goal from Claire O'Connor before the Lakers evened the score with the first of two power-play goals on the day, the first coming from junior defenseman and co-captain Angie Friesen (Chilliwack, BC) with 2:28 remaining in the period off of passes from Junior Jenna Kirkwood (Chilliwack, BC) and freshman Jillian Bergeron (Brockville, ONT).
The Cardinals retook the lead with the only goal scored in the third period at 6:32 from Shay Bywater, then opened the third period with three unanswered goals, Danielle Blanchard scored the game winner 16 seconds into the period, then followed with her second goal of the game at the 4:07 mark. Laurie Bowler completed the Plattsburgh scoring barrage with a goal 45 seconds later.
Oswego tallied its second power-play goal as senior Jessica Lister (Aurora, ONT) registered her second score of the weekend at the 14:06 mark, assisted by senior Stephanie Esposito (Parish) and sophomore Erika Shapey (Plainview). The Lakers finished 2-for-5 on the power-play, while Plattsburgh went one of four on the extra-player advantage.
The Cardinals outshot Oswego, 38-19, with goalie Danielle Beattie making 17 saves, while Laker sophomore Emi Williams (Anchorage, AK) stopped 33 shots.
