BRIDGEWATER, Mass. (October 28, 2022) --The Franklin Pierce University women's ice hockey team fell behind 2-0 in a hurry on Friday evening, as part of a first period which saw the visitors outshot by a 12-3 margin at Bridgewater Ice Arena. The rest of the game was more even, but the early ugliness proved costly for the Ravens in their New England Women's Hockey Alliance opener at Stonehill. Graduate student Katie Sonntag scored twice for the Skyhawks, as Stonehill took the first-ever meeting between the two teams, 4-1.

With the loss, Franklin Pierce falls to 1-5-0 (0-1-0 NEWHA), while first-year program Stonehill improves to 5-3-1 (5-0-0 NEWHA). The two teams will wrap up the home-and-home set at 7:30 p.m. on Saturday, at Jason Ritchie Ice Arena, in Franklin Pierce's home opener.

With junior goaltender Suzette Faucher (Middleton, Wis.) out of the lineup, the Ravens were in need of a strong team defensive effort, and would have benefitted from using its own offense to limit the opposition's opportunities to generate chances. Instead, Franklin Pierce found itself in a 2-0 hole in less than four minutes.

Stonehill got things started at the 1:48 mark of the opening frame, directly off a faceoff play in the left circle. Freshman Brianna Wolkom won the draw back to the left point, for fellow freshman Sarah Taylar. Taylar's shot through traffic was deflected, and popped over the glove shoulder of Franklin Pierce freshman goaltender Jill Hertl (Highland Park, Ill.), for Taylar's first collegiate goal.

Just over two minutes later, the Skyhawks doubled the lead, at 3:53. The original shot on the play came from freshman Alexis Petford on the right side, and Hertl had an opportunity to cover up, but was unable to corral the puck. Instead, freshman Maddison Achtyl put the initial rebound off the left post and then cleaned up her own rebound for her third of the year. Stonehill scored on two of its first four shots in the game.

The rest of the first period was not much better, as the Ravens were outshot 12 -3, though that was it for the goals at least. Franklin Pierce got things together from there, as shots were even at 16-16 over the final two periods. The two teams essentially played a 1-1 game the rest of the way, with each side putting home a power-play marker. Stonehill made it 3-0 at 12:48 of the second stanza. Petford provided a centering feed from the left side and Sonntag was out front to deflect the puck inside the far post for her second goal of the year.

In dire need of a goal, Franklin Pierce had a pair of power-play chances in the opening five minutes of the third frame, but generated only one shot across the four minutes' worth of advantage. The Ravens got another power play at the 11:24 mark, and this time, head coach David Stockdale elected to pull Hertl for an extra attacker with more than seven minutes left and his team still trailing by three.

The gambit worked, as the Ravens cashed in their first power-play goal of the season at 12:57. Off a faceoff in the right circle, freshman Avery Farrell (Otsego, Minn.) wound up with the puck below the goal line on the right side. She sent it out front for senior Ava Kison (Eau Claire, Wis.), who had her shot turned aside. Fellow senior Cassidy Jones (Stillwater, Minn.) was stymied on the rebound as well, but her persistence paid off, as she eventually tucked a backhand attempt inside the right post from the left circle, for her first goal of the season.

The offense dried up from there though, as Franklin Pierce put just one shot on net over the final seven minutes. Sonntag added an empty-net tally at 18:31 to record her first collegiate multiple-goal game and create the 4-1 final.

Hertl (0-1-0) made 24 saves against 27 shots and suffered the loss in her collegiate debut in the Franklin Pierce crease. Sophomore Hannah Zukow (3-3-1) made 18 stops against 19 shots in the win for Stonehill.