Baker finishes with 1-2-3

WINCHENDON, Mass. (January 24, 2014) – After a raucous first period which saw six goals in 9:33, the game went without another goal until the second goal of the night by freshman forward Katie Flynn (Sandwich, Mass.) at 4:36 of the third broke a 3-3 tie and gave the Franklin Pierce University women's ice hockey team a 4-3 victory over Sacred Heart at Jason Ritchie Ice Arena on Friday night. Junior forward Casey Stathopoulos scored her team-leading seventh goal of the season in defeat for Sacred Heart.

With the win, Franklin Pierce improves to 16-2-1 and is unbeaten in its last eight, while Sacred Heart falls to 3-11-5. The two teams will meet again on Saturday at 3 p.m. in Winchendon to wrap up the two-game weekend series and close out the home portion of Franklin Pierce's 2013-14 campaign.

The first nine minutes of the game went without a goal before the Ravens opened the floodgates at the 9:44 mark with the first of three scores in 73 seconds, the fastest trio of goals in program history. A turnover by Sacred Heart deep in its own zone left sophomore forward Karsyn Baker (Detroit, Mich.) with the puck in the slot. Baker made a move to pull the puck to the left-wing circle and beat senior goaltender Alexius Schutt for her team-leading 14th goal of the season, unassisted.

Just 35 seconds later, the same line struck again, as sophomore forward Michaela Faia (Malden, Mass.) made it 2-0 with her sixth goal of the year at 10:57. Baker took the original shot on the play, and the rebound wound up with sophomore forward Colleen Doucette (Wakefield, Mass.) on the left side. Doucette sent the puck to her right for Faia, who finished off the play as the whole line figured in on the goal.

Another 38 seconds after the Doucette goal, Flynn struck for her first score of the night to make it 3-0 at 10:57. Sophomore forward Francesca Paciello (Clinton, N.Y.) and senior forward Jamie Wiley (Cape Vincent, N.Y.) worked the puck to Flynn at the middle of the blue line and the freshman unloaded from there. The puck was deflected by the defense en route and wound up in the back of the net for Flynn's third of the season.

The Ravens let up on the accelerator after the Flynn goal, which allowed Sacred Heart to put together a 3-0 run of its own over a span of 4:53 to knot the game at 3-3 prior to the first intermission. Stathopoulos struck first, at 14:24, with a shot from the left circle off a feed from freshman defenseman Amie Varano. Franklin Pierce freshman goaltender Noelle White (Corona, Calif.) got a piece of the shot, but it got behind her and trickled inside the right post to get the Pioneers on the board.

Sacred Heart pulled within a goal 95 seconds later, as sophomore forward Hanna Skelley put away a rebound from the right circle for her fourth of the year, at 15:59. Junior forward Whitney Henderson and senior defenseman Jennie Robinson picked up the helpers on the play.

The Pioneers capped the comeback in the final minute, at 19:17, after senior defenseman Catie Ladner sent the puck to sophomore defenseman Megan Ofner at the left point. Ofner took a slapshot from there, and junior forward Natasha Klinoff was able to get a stick to the puck and redirect home her fourth goal of the season.

After the six-goal first frame, the middle stanza went without scoring before Franklin Pierce picked up the third period's only goal at the 4:36 mark. Doucette and Baker picked up the helpers on the play, as the puck ultimately wound up with Flynn in the left circle. Flynn shot for the far side from there and put her first career game-winning goal into the top-right corner of the net. For Flynn, it was the third two-point game of the season, as well as the first two-goal game of her career. For Baker, it was her fifth three-point game of the season and the eighth of her career in 39 games. In addition, of Franklin Pierce's 16 wins on the season, Baker has figured in on the game-winning goal nine times.

Sacred Heart got Schutt to the bench in favor of the extra attacker for much of the final minute later in the period, but was unable to find the game-tying goal.

White finished the night with 19 saves to pick up the win (8-2-1) in front of the Franklin Pierce net. At the other end of the ice, Schutt picked up 26 saves and took the loss (2-5-4) between the pipes 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).