Saints Blitz #6 Boston College, 7-3 in women's hockey

St. Lawrence University junior Vanessa Emond and sophomore Brooke Fernandez each scored a pair of goals, while sophomore Michelle Ng chipped three assists as the Saints' women's hockey team handed nationally-ranked No. 6 Boston College its first loss of the 2010-11 season on Friday by the score of 7-3 in Appleton Arena.

The win is the third straight for the Scarlet and Brown, as the team moves to 4-5-1 on the year. Meanwhile, the Eagles fall to 7-1-3 overall and were done in by 13 minor penalties.

"We were fortunate to have some pucks bounce our way today," said St. Lawrence head coach Chris Wells. "Boston College had some great chances as well. We look forward to another battle with them tomorrow."

The Saints stormed out to a 4-0 lead with four goals in a span of 6:11, as four different players gave the home team all of the momentum. Junior Alley Bero opened the scoring at 9:36 when she put a rebound past BC netminder Kiera Kingston for her second goal of the year. Senior Karell Emard followed at 11:47 with a dazzling move around Kingston off of a face-off for the 2-0 advantage.

Emond pushed the lead to 3-0 less than two minutes later at 13:10 when her wrist shot in the slot went off of a Boston College defender's stick and between the goalie's legs. Fernandez then capped St. Lawrence's first period scoring with her first goal of the year at 15:47. The Bloomfield, CT native sniped a one-timer over Kingston's shoulder, with assists going to Ng and classmate Kayla Sullivan.

Boston College scored its first goal of the game before the end of the opening stanza to cut into their deficit, trailing 4-1 after 20:00 minutes. Melissa Bizzari netted her fourth goal of the season on a great individual effort, pushing the puck past a defender and beating St. Lawrence rookie goalie Caitlyn Lahonen at 18:49.

First-year student Bailey Habscheid gave the home team its four-goal cushion back at 5-1 at 11:50 of the second period. Sophomore Jamie Goldsmith got the play started, as her shot on the power play from inside the blue line hit off of Habscheid and bounced past Kingston for the rookie's second goal of the season. Though Mary Restuccia would answer for the Eagles at 13:26 on a breakaway against Lahonen, the visitors still trailed 5-2 heading into the third period.

Blake Bolden was able to pull Boston College back to within two goals at 5-3 only 3:40 into the final stanza. Bolden converted a well-executed play only eight seconds into a power play, with assists going to Restuccia and Kelli Stack.

However, Emond and Fernandez would put the game away with back-to-back goals later in the period. Emond's second goal of the game came at 9:12 on a two-on-one try against Kingston. The Levis, QC native lifted a wrist shot under the crossbar to put St. Lawrence back on top by three, 6-3. Fernandez then capped the game's scoring at 16:37 on the power play when she unleashed a blast from the point that beat the goalie glove-side for the 7-3 victory.

St. Lawrence closed with a 32-28 advantage in shots on goal. Lahonen earned the win with a 25-save performance, while Kingston suffered the loss after making 25 saves as well. The Saints closed with a 2-for-12 mark on the power play, while the Eagles were 1-of-4 with the player advantage.

The Saints and Eagles will meet again to close out the non-conference series tomorrow, Saturday, November 13 at Appleton Arena. The puck is scheduled to drop at 2:00pm.