Pilgrims capture season opener over Pioneers
New England College women’s ice hockey forward Stephanie Spera (Stoughton, Mass.) netted the lone goal of the game in the second period lifting the Pilgrims past the visiting Utica College Pioneers 1-0 Saturday evening. The Pilgrims open their season with a home win for just the second time in program history, while the loss drops the Pioneers to 0-2-0 on the season.
The two teams battled through a scoreless opening period of play as the Pioneers controlled much of the offense out shooting the Pilgrims 15-4.
The momentum would switch early in the second period as the Pilgrims would open the period with two power-play opportunities. NEC would break the scoreless tie late in the second period as first-year forward Stephanie Spera would score her first collegiate goal off a nice feed from Courtney Kerslake (Sarnia, Onatario) with just 1:39 remaining in the period.
The two teams would battle evenly through much of the third period as the Pioneers held the slight 12-8 advantage in shots. Utica would continue to bring the pressure late as MacKenzie Roy (Concord, N.H.) would get a shot off with just seconds on the clock but NEC keeper Teraysa White (Belgrade, Maine) would record the save to solidify the 1-0 victory.
The Pioneers would finish the game out shooting the Pilgrims 32-25.
Picking up the shutout win in net for the Pilgrims was Teraysa White (Belgrade, Maine) who finished with an impressive 32 saves. In net for Utica was Jill Doherty (Wellesley, Mass.) who finished with 24 saves.
