Sault College moves to 2-0 at nationals

Sault College’s women’s hockey team improved to 2-0 on Wednesday evening at the American Collegiate Hockey Association Division II National Championship in St. Louis, Mo.

After picking up a win on opening day of the five-day event, the Cougars skated to a 6-1 win over the University of Vermont on Wednesday.

Sault College opened the scoring just over six minutes into the contest when Marie-Pier Lecours beat Vermont goaltender Erin Mathews with a backhand in close with the Cougars shorthanded after being stopped on a chance earlier in the penalty kill.

The Cougars took a 2-0 lead midway through the second period when Alyssa Turcotte beat Mathews with a shot from the slot high stick side at 9:56.

Just 2:30 later Emma Lee scored her third goal of the tournament to make it 3-0 Sault College.

After Mathews made a pair of saves initially, including one on Olivia Barsanti from the left faceoff circle, Lee potted the rebound on the power play to extend the Sault College lead.

Jasmine Groleau made it 4-0 at 8:15 of the third period when she beat Mathews glove side from the slot after stepping around a Vermont defender to get the shot off.

Sophie Thibault made it 5-0 at 14:31 when she took a shot from the left point that found its way through traffic and past Mathews.

Off the faceoff, Vermont broke Gabriella Corbiere’s shutout bid when Kiley Robles broke in on a 2-on-1 and scored on a rebound nine seconds after Thibault’s goal.

Lauren Halcrow capped off the scoring for Sault College with 13 seconds to go when she took a shot from the top of the left circle that beat Mathews.

Corbiere finished the night with 23 saves for Sault College.

In addition to her goal, Lecours had a pair of assists in the victory while Groleau had a goal and an assist for Sault College.

Mathews made 28 saves for Vermont.

Sault College returns to action on Thursday afternoon against Assiniboine in the final round robin action for the Cougars.