Potsdam, N.Y.—SUNY Potsdam women’s hockey team scored on the first shot of the game and never trailed en route to a 5-1 victory over visiting Cortland. Junior forward Caitlin Manahan (St. Albans, Vt./Elmira College) scored a goal and recorded assist and junior forward Annmarie Lewis (Newmarket, Ontario/Aurora Panthers) added two assists to lead the Bears (6-9-1, 2-8 ECAC West).

Both teams started slowly, but Potsdam struck just 2:38 into the contest. Freshman defenseman Brittany Lucky (Kanata, Ontario/Ottawa Senators) fired a shot from the point that beat screened Cortland freshman goalie Sarah Ribarich (Farmingdale, N.Y./N.J. Selects). Freshmen Emma Smetaniuk (Frankford, Ontario/Whitby Wolves) and Jessica Silveira (Brampton, Ontario/Brampton Thunder) each assisted on the goal. Less than six minutes later junior forward Stephanie Simons (Stratford, Ontario/Bluewater Hawks) took a pass from Manahan moved left around the Red Dragons’ defense and roofed a shot for a 2-0 lead.

The Bears started the second period the same as the first, scoring on their first shot. After returning to the ice from a penalty, junior defenseman Breanna Roy (Orleans, Ontario/Nepean Wildcats) blasted a shot from the slot past Ribarich for a 3-0 lead. Lewis recorded the assist. After the teams traded penalties and not much offense for the middle of the period, Manahan scored at the 14:24 mark on an assist from junior defenseman Stephanie Malcolm (Hamilton, Ontario/Hamilton Hawks). Potsdam led 4-0 after 40 minutes.

The third period was filled with penalty after penalty. At the 7:50 mark Cortland freshman forward Allie Beall (Missoula, Mont./National Sports Academy) slammed home the rebound off a shot from sophomore forward Chelsey Wright (Medford, N.Y./Suffolk PAL) to get the Red Dragons on the board at 4-1. Sophomore defenseman Cara Latchum (Warrington, Pa./Wyoming Seminary) recorded the second assist on the play. The penalties continued after the goal and 10 minutes later Bears sophomore Brittany Westlake (Georgetown, Ontario/Brampton Thunder) scored the game’s lone power-play goal to close the scoring at 5-1. Lewis notched her second assist of the game on the goal.

Potsdam sophomore goaltender Jen Conophy (Glenmont, N.Y./Albany Ice Cats) made 24 saves for the win, while Ribarich finished with 23. Cortland was 0-9 on the power play and the Bears went 1-5.

“I was pretty happy with the overall effort, especially the first two periods,” said Potsdam Head Coach Jay Green. “Despite the penalties and some sloppy play in the third period we didn’t give up a power-play goal and kept the shots to the outside. Jen Conophy also made some nice saves that kept things in our favor. Tomorrow we need to be a little more disciplined in terms of penalties and play hard for 60 minutes, but we can’t complain about today’s results.”

The Bears close out the weekend series with the Red Dragons (2-11-2, 1-6-2) tomorrow at 2 p.m. at Maxcy Hall.