From Sault Sports
The Sault College Cougars played host to the Niagara University Purple Eagles on Saturday night at their Home Opener. Before the game, the Cougars hosted a ceremony honouring the 2023-2024 National Champions and tournament MVP Emma Lee.
Once the game got underway, it didn’t take long for the Cougars to show what makes them the cream of the crop, as Emily Moore fired a shot from the slot that found the back of the net. Rookie, Annika Babineau picked up the assist on the goal. With less than five minutes remaining in the first, Hayden Dunn cleaned up in front of the net and snuck a shot past the Niagara goaltender for her first career ACHA goal. Katelynn Jacques & Amelia Williams recorded the assists on the play. Emma Lee would add another two minutes later recording her tenth goal of the season set up by Payton Stos. The Cougars would take a 3-0 lead into the intermission.
The Second period looked a lot like the first as Emily Moore scored under thirty seconds into the period, assisted by Lee and Amelia Bois. The Purple Eagles would get one back with just under five minutes to go in the frame, cutting the lead to three. Katelynn Jacques would add her first goal of the game a minute later with an assist to Stos restoring the four-goal lead. With the Cougars heading to a 5-minute power play, Emily Moore would continue her stellar night adding her third goal of the evening after a shot from the hashmarks fooled the goaltender. With the Cougars still on the powerplay, Taryn Sullivan would add another with 13 seconds remaining in the period, assisted by Amelia Williams & Materia Land.
As the third period got underway, Emily Moore would continue doing what she does best, scoring the opening goal of the period for her fourth of the game, with assists to Lee and Lily Wallsmith. Alyssa Byers would unload a point shot just over a minute later after a pass from her Defense partner, Grayson Hollin. The Cougars would add one more before the end of the game, and Annika Babineau found the back of the net, set up by Lee & Moore.
The Cougars would cruise to a 10-1 victory in their Home Opener. Farrah Farstad would record the win for the Cougars, stopping 13 of 14 shots fired her way. The Cougars are back in action Sunday as they face off against the Purple Eagles for game 2 of their weekend set.
The Cougars faced off against the Niagara Purple Eagles in the second game of their weekend set on Sunday afternoon at the Northern Community Centre. Cassidy Dobson would start in goal for the Cougars, opposite Emma Nadeau for the Purple Eagles.
A high paced first period saw both teams trade chances before Niagara forward managed to get one passed Dobson just over five minutes into the game. With the Cougars trailing 1-0, the offence began to ramp it up only allowing 2 more shots the rest of the period, while firing 18 shots on the Purple Eagles goaltender. Nadeau was equal to the task as she kept a clean sheet and had the Purple Eagles in the lead 1-0 at the end of the first period.
With the Cougars trailing, veteran forward Emma Lee would score the equalizer four minutes into the second period, scoring a rebound off an Alyssa Byers point shot tying things up at 1. With thirteen minutes remaining in the period, Emily Moore would take a pass from Emma Lee and work across the high slot before firing a shot into the top corner, giving the Cougars their first lead of the game. Captain Halle MacLachlan would pick up the other assist on the goal. The Cougars would take the 2-1 lead into the third period.
As was the theme of the weekend, in the third period Emily Moore would add her second goal of the game when she found a loose puck in front of the Niagara crease and sent it into the back of the net. Lily Wallsmith would pick up the assist, extending the Cougars lead with 7 minutes remaining. The Purple Eagles were not going to go away easily as they cashed in their second goal of the game with just over four minutes remaining and trimmed the deficit to one. Despite pressure from the Purple Eagles, the Cougars defence and goaltender Cassidy Dobson stood tall and secured the 3-2 victory.
This marks the end of the Cougars schedule for 2024 as they head into their winter break. The Cougars Women’s Hockey program will be back in action on January 10th and 11th, 2025 as the travel to the University of Michigan-Dearborn.
(Originally published at https://saultsports.com/cougar-women-win-back-to-back-games-against-the-visiting-niagara-university-purple-eagles/)
