Ravens survive third period siege

WINCHENDON, Mass. (February 15, 2013) – After over a month on the road, and with her family in the stands, freshman forward Karsyn Baker (Detroit, Mich.) scored a shorthanded, game-winning goal and added two assists on Friday night to lead the Franklin Pierce University women's ice hockey team to a 3-2 win over Sacred Heart at Jason Ritchie Ice Arena. Freshman forward Michaela Faia (Malden, Mass.) scored twice in the victory for Franklin Pierce.

With the win, Franklin Pierce improves to 7-13-0, while Sacred Heart falls to 14-12-2. It was the first win in four tries for the Ravens against Sacred Heart this season. The two teams will meet again at noon on Saturday, in the season finale for both.

Faia opened the scoring just 3:22 into the proceedings after Baker sprung her through center ice and down the right side on a breakaway after a neutral-zone turnover. From near the right-wing faceoff dot, Faia snapped a shot to the top corner for her 10th goal of the season. Faia struck again at the 14:43 mark, amidst a scramble in front of the net, tying for the team lead with 11 goals, while Baker added another assist.

The Ravens stretched the lead to 3-0 at 12:31 of the second stanza, when Baker scored a highlight-reel shorthanded goal for her eighth of the season, unassisted. With Sacred Heart struggling to clear the puck from its own end despite the man-advantage, Baker hassled the puck-carrier to the offensive left-wing side of the cage. She forced a turnover in the left-wing circle, spun into the slot and backhanded a shot to the roof of the net for Franklin Pierce's second shorthanded tally of the season.

Sacred Heart made a game of it in the third period, posting a 12-5 advantage in shots on goal and mounting a comeback attempt. At 5:18, in the waning seconds of a power play, sophomore forward Natasha Klinoff and junior defenseman Catie Ladner worked to spring sophomore forward Cara Curran through the neutral zone on a breakaway up the center of the ice. Curran beat junior goalkeeper Amelea Gray (Bozeman, Mont.) for her fifth of the year.

At the 11:09 mark, another neutral-zone miscue allowed sophomore forwards Whitney Henderson and Casey Stathopoulos to get the puck to sophomore forward Melissa Robbins with a partial breakaway/odd-man rush on the right-wing side. Robbins picked up her team-leading 13th of the season when she snapped a shot inside the left post. The Pioneers later called a timeout and pulled the goaltender with 1:26 to play, but could not find the tying goal over the final 86 seconds.

Gray made 25 saves to pick up the win (7-12-0) in front of the Franklin Pierce cage. Junior Mandy Montgomery stopped 24 shots and took the loss (3-5-1) in net for Sacred Heart.

For more information on Franklin Pierce Athletics, please visit the official website of Franklin Pierce Athletics (http://athletics.franklinpierce.edu). Also be sure to follow the Ravens through the Department of Athletics' official Facebook page (http://www.facebook.com/FranklinPierceRavens), its YouTube channel (http://www.youtube.com/franklinpiercesports) and its Twitter feed (http://twitter.com/FPUathletics). Fans wishing to purchase Franklin Pierce women's ice hockey apparel can do so at the Department of Athletics' brand new online store (http://athletics.franklinpierce.edu/store).