Petford scored her team-leading 13th goal of the season. (Photo Credit Mary Gettens).

EAST MEADOW, N.Y. (February 2, 2024) – For the second consecutive game, the Stonehill College women's ice hockey team fell short in its third period comeback effort at Long Island University Friday night, 3-2. With the loss, the Skyhawks dip to 13-14-2 overall and 13-8-2 in conference play, while the Sharks improve to 20-8 overall and 20-2 against NEWHA opponents.

Highlights

• Sophomore Alexis Petford scored her team-leading 13th goal of the season, while sophomore Sydney Russell netted her third of the year.  
• Junior Josie Mendeszoon as well as sophomore duo of Maddison Achtyl and Lily Geist recorded assists for the Skyhawks.
• Sophomore goaltender Eve Stone posted 25 saves in between the pipes for Stonehill.
• Senior Mikayla Lantto led the Sharks with a pair of goals, while junior Jeannie Wallner netted her 12th of the season.
• Junior netminder Tindra Holm picked up her 18th win of the season in net for LIU after stopping 31 of her 33 shots faced in goal.  

How it Happened

• LIU came out of the gates strong, dominating offensive zone possession until the sophomore duo of Geist and Sarah Taylar nearly gave the Skyhawks the first lead of the game in the final minutes of the opening frame.
• Geist sent a backhanded shot just wide of the Sharks goal, while Taylar rang a shot off the crossbar from the blue line just moments later.
• However, with less than a minute to play in the first, LIU would reach the scoreboard as Lantto lit the lamp after capitalizing on a third rebound chance in front of Stone in goal. 
• The Sharks would double their lead to 2-0 at the 7:59 mark of the second period after freshman Ella Knewton sent a breakout pass to Lantto, who skated away from Skyhawk defenders and sent a shot into the back of the cage for her second goal of the game.

  Today's game marked Mendeszoon's 100th NCAA game of her career. (Photo Credit Mary Gettens).

• After going into the second intermission trailing by two, Russell answered the call early in the third, burying a shot off the blue line just 18 seconds in and cutting the deficit in half for the Skyhawks.
• LIU would regain its two-goal lead three minutes later as Wallner netted her 12th goal of the season. 
• Stonehill continued to claw its way back, bringing the score to 3-2 at the 9:28 mark of the third after Petford found herself all alone in front of Holm in the LIU net, where she sent a shot into the back of the cage for her team-leading 13th goal of the season.  
• Despite pulling the goaltender late and taking the skater advantage, the Skyhawks could not net the equalizer, falling short in their late comeback effort to the Sharks, 3-2. 

Noteworthy

• Stonehill outshot the Sharks 33-28 and won the faceoff battle over LIU 32-17.
• Mendeszoon led the Skyhawks at the dot winning 10 of her 12 total draws throughout the contest. 
• Petford extended her goal-scoring streak to five games after netting her team-best 13th of the season against the Sharks.

Up Next

Stonehill (13-14-2, 13-8-2 NEWHA) wraps up its two-game weekend series at LIU tomorrow at 2 p.m. inside the Northwell Health Ice Center in East Meadow, New York.

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