#8 Elmira 2, Utica 1 Box Score

Utica, NY (11-19-11) - The Utica College women's hockey team lost 2-1 on the road against nationally-ranked No. 8 Elmira College Saturday night at the Murray Athletic Center.  Sophomore Meredith Tice (Hershey, PA/Washington Pride) netted the Pioneers' lone goal of the evening.

UC drops to 3-4 overall and 1-4 in ECAC Women's West play while the Soaring Eagles moved to 4-1 overall while remaining undefeated at 3-0 in the conference.  Utica returns to the ice Sunday in the second of a two game set against Elmira. The puck is set to drop at 3 p.m.

Utica broke the ice at 13:28 in the first period as Tice recorded her second goal of the season off dishes from sophomore Megan Myers (Las Vegas, NV/LA Selects) and junior Meghan McMahon (Gardner, MA/St. Marks (MA)) to take a 1-0 lead. The home team out shot UC 11-5 over the first 20 minutes of play. 

The Soaring Eagles answered at 8:23 in the second tying the score 1-1.  Amber Tirri found the back of the net, even-strengthed, off assists from Ashley Ryan and Lauren Campbell to knot up the game.  Utica killed a power-play ending at 16:09 before back-to-back penalties at 18:06 and 18:45, giving Elmira  a 6-4 advantage.  The Soaring Eagles would take a 2-1 lead with the two-up edge, at 19:37, as Tori Charron netted the eventual game-winner for her fifth season goal.  Madison Johnston registered an assist on the play for EC. 

The final period of play featured four Elmira penalties, however the Pioneers were unable to convert as they dropped to 1-4 in the ECAC Women's West standings.

The Soaring Eagles tallied 50 shots to Utica's 19 on the night as they remained undbeaten in the ECAC Women's West.  Both teams were penalized six times for 12 minutes but unfortunately Elmira converted the only man-up advantage of the contest as it sealed the victory.

Sophomore goalie Jennifer Hamel (Ithaca, NY/Northwood School) stopped 48 shots in net for UC as she fell to 2-2 overall and 1-2 in the conference.  Hamel has a season save percentage of .938 and a goals-against average of 2.51 thus far this season.