(Photo: Nicholas Badders/WCSN)
The Arizona State women’s hockey team claimed their first win of the season Saturday night in a 3-2 victory over Grand Canyon University with the help of two first time goal scorers.
“Overall it was a great, great game,” ASU head coach Lindsey Ellis said after the game. “Lots of improvements from last night.”
After coming off a gritty 3-2 overtime defeat to rival GCU, the youth laden Sun Devils looked to kick off Saturday’s match with a more rapid playstyle.
From the opening faceoff, the Sun Devils looked like an entirely different group of skaters than the night before. This time, it was the Sun Devils bringing the intensity and speed early to the Lopes, even holding GCU without a shot until almost seven minutes past in the first period.
The first period was riddled with several 2-on-2 breakaway chances for the Devils, but Megan Brodfuehrer of GCU broke the deadlock with a backhanded shot that connected perfectly with the back of the net with 8:03 left in the first.
“Bend don’t break” was the mentality for the Sun Devils after conceding the first goal of the game, and the Devils still found themselves controlling both the pace and time of possession, throwing shot after shot on Lopes goaltender Haylee Gannaway.
ASU’s hard work paid off and just over five minutes later, senior KC McGinley found the back of the net with a scorching slapshot from the blue line.
The teams went into the locker rooms after the first squared up at 1, but with the Devils drastically outshooting the Lopes 16-5.
The Sun Devils started the second period right where they finished the first. With the team’s new collection of speed skaters, the Devils threw shots on net and grabbed their own rebounds, forcing GCU to spend much of the game in their own defensive zones.
Arizona State’s ability to grab their own rebounded shots was none more apparent than when freshman forward Maya Elliott scored her first ever collegiate goal after multiple rapid-fire shot attempts by her teammates to give the Devils a 2-1 lead with 12:04 remaining in the period.
“Aubrey [Beskid] shot it first, then Sydney [Hancock], then Aubrey, and I was standing there for the rebound, and I hit it as hard as I could,” Elliott said going through her recollection of the goal.
“I was like ‘Oh my God, we just scored!’” – Maya Elliott
GCU did not lay down quietly and just two minutes later, Tuesday Chavez put the game in yet another deadlock via a breakaway goal that soared over ASU goaltender Jordan Nash-Boulden’s glove side into the top-shelf of the net.
It was also during the second period that the Sun Devils were tasked with the rare situation of killing off a 4-on-3 power play. The team stood stalwart and killed the penalty in dominant fashion.
“We’re just getting down our regular PK in practice, so we have not been able to practice it yet,” Ellis said. “I think they did really, really well.”
Both teams settled down into a back-and-forth rhythm, but a late-period push by the Devils was just what the doctors ordered as freshman Danielle Dupont put her stick handling skills on display for the world to see as she cut through the Lopes defenses on her way to backhand-forehand-backhand goal that fooled Gannaway in net.
“I just saw it go in and I thought ‘Yay!’” Dupont said.
The Sun Devils held on to the 3-2 lead to the final horn and Nash-Boulden finished the night with 26 saves.
For the freshman players, this concludes their first collegiate series, meaning they have now experienced an opening night, a loss and now a win. For Dupont and Elliott, they also got their skates wet in the scoring column, something that will also further calm down the player’s nerves as they adjust to the new world of collegiate hockey.
“Not every goal has to be pretty, it just has to go in,” Elliott said. “I didn’t expect to score at all… It’s awesome, it’s crazy.”
The Sun Devils get an 18-day break between games before taking on Denver, Midland and Air Force in Colorado for the WWCHL Showcase.
