(Photo: Nicholas Badders)
While Arizona State’s weekend in Colorado didn’t get off to a strong start, being swept by No. 3 Colorado, ASU’s women’s hockey team rebounded well, sweeping Denver in the final two games of the trip by a 16-4 margin.
Sixteen different players picked up points over the four games and 11 scored, including four Sun Devils who netted their first goals of the season. Sheridan Gloyd collected her first three goals of the season while Abby Steinman, Aubrey Beskid and Erin Rawls each scored once.
“I was so excited,” Beskid said. “There were a few times this season where I almost had goals or I did and they were waved off so it was was nice to finally score.”
In addition to her Sunday goal, Rawls assisted on three others, her first four points of the season.
“I was pretty happy about [scoring],” Rawls said. “My line was really gelling and we tend to know where each other are and we have so much fun off the ice together that it carries onto the ice.
While Kat Jones continued to lead the way in scoring, collecting five points (two goals, three assists) over the four games and bringing her season total to 16, it was ASU’s line of Rawls, Steinman and Finn Larson line that shined.
Steinman picked up five points (one goal, four assists), Rawls acquired four (one goal, three assists) and Larson added four as well (one goal, three assists).
“We have so much fun with each other,” Rawls said. “The three of us wanted to win, we are all very positive, so we never got down at all.”
For a team that collectively had 43 points on the weekend, those three were responsible for nearly one third, with 13.
Coming into the weekend, Rawls was one of two Sun Devils without a point this season. That changed Saturday when Avery Chmelovsky assisted on a Catherine Jones goals, giving all 18 of ASU’s skaters points through the team’s first 14 games.
Not only have all 18 skaters recorded a point, but with the four new goal scorers, 16 different players have scored a goal this season.
“It’s so great to see players step up and take those roles,” head coach Lindsey Ellis said. “They’re making such a huge impact on this team, it’s so great to see it all over the board and not just one or two people. There’s a lot of people stepping up.”
The Sun Devils were tasked with facing the No.3-ranked Buffaloes to begin the weekend and were unable to pull out a victory, falling 7-1 and 6-2. Kat Jones prevented a shutout loss in the Friday night game, scoring a goal with 48 seconds left.
Saturday morning, ASU kept the game much closer, as it was scoreless for the first 21 minutes. While Colorado pulled away, Alyssa Ayers and KC McGinley scored for the Devils, with McGinley’s goal at the time bringing her team within two.
“Coming out of the first period of both games, they were super close,” Ellis said. “It comes down to a full 60 minutes of hockey and when we let up for 20 minutes, unfortunately, a lot of those goals go in. With a team like CU who is one of the best in the country and very offensively minded, they caught our mistakes very quickly. They were close games but when we let off the gas like that, it shows on the scoreboard at the end of the game.”
Ayers’ second-period goal against CU was her first of four on the weekend.
“I had a lot of confidence this weekend,” the junior defenseman said. “I usually do for every game, but this weekend it came out a little more. We were connecting pretty well, which helped and the defense was being pretty offensive as well and that helped me, knowing that the other D were skating it up too.”
All six of the Devils’ defensemen added points to the stat sheet too, nearly one half of the goal-scoring and one third of the points.
“We were skating up when we didn’t have options, they were covering our forwards pretty well in the neutral and on breakouts,” Ayers said. “If we didn’t see those options, we didn’t risk it and just skated it up ourselves.”
After a brief rest, the Sun Devils suited back up and took on the Denver Pioneers for the first of two games. After losing to the Pioneers 3-2 when they were last in Colorado for the WWCHL Showcase, the Devils came out firing, outscoring Denver 16-4 in the two games.
“I think this time, we knew what to expect from them,” Beskid said. “We knew that we could play above their level, play our pace of game and we were able to do that, which generated a lot of offensive opportunities for us to score through the weekend.”
Ayers added two more goals to her weekend, Kat Jones collected her second of the trip and Ashlyn Sunderman, Finn Larson, Catherine Jones and Alisa Manny each scored as well in the 9-2 win. Third-period goals from Steinman and Gloyd, ASU’s eighth and ninth of the game, were their first collegiate goals.
“In the Denver game three weeks ago, there were a few people that were contributing but playing them this time, we had the entire team out there making plays,” Ellis said. “Playing Denver for the second series, they were all able to get their confidence up and be able to enter into the zone and gain possession rather than shoot from the outside.”
Additionally, Macy Eide, who played in both games Saturday, picked up her first collegiate win, making 16 saves on 18 shots.
Landry Phelps made her first regular-season appearance Sunday against Denver, also stopping 16 of the 18 shots she faced to earn her first collegiate win.
“It was great for them to get their foot in the door and play those games,” Ellis said. “Both of them played so great, they came out huge for the team. Overall, it was a great weekend for our goaltenders.”
It was Sunday’s 7-2 victory that saw Rawls and Beskid both score their first goals of the season.
Ashlyn Sunderman scored the first and seventh goals for the Sun Devils while Gloyd added two more to her weekend total and Ayers netted her fourth.
Now with a 6-7-1 record, the Sun Devils are off for three weeks before facing Grand Canyon Dec. 1 and 2, a team ASU hasn’t seen since the start of the season.
“It’s the little things that add up, but they’re coming together as a team right now,” Ellis said of the Devils. “It’s slowly coming together, but picking up on the little things and doing those in practice is what we’re going to be working towards when we play GCU in a few weeks.”
