HERSHEY, Pa. – The Lebanon Valley women's ice hockey team had seven different student-athletes record a point in a 4-1 victory over Neumann University on Saturday evening at Hersheypark Arena in Hershey to complete the first Middle Atlantic Conference (MAC) weekend sweep of the year.
 
The Dutchmen (4-0-0, 2-0-0 MAC) controlled the faceoff circle against the Knights (0-4-0, 0-2-0 MAC) all night and had a big advantage in shots. Neuman took the first shot at the goal as Julianne Barrette easily swiped the puck out of the way. McKayla Romano won back-to-back faceoffs, leading to an Amy McKeigue shot that was saved. The Knights put a little pressure on the Dutchmen in the seventh minute with a pair of shots on goal. Barrette stopped both shots, and on the second one, Norah McCauliffe knocked the puck to Anna Dale. Dale then hit Addison Taylert streaking down the ice. Taylert had a one-on-one with the goalie and won the battle, scoring her fourth goal of the year to give the Dutchmen the lead. The Dutchmen had their first power play opportunity of the night in the 14th minute of the period. Tiffany Anderson had two shots blocked, and Taylert had a shot saved during the extra-woman advantage. LVC continued to press for another goal as the period wound down, with Camryn Crouch, Lauren Pennino, Sky Campanile, and Chelly Wolff missing wide of the goal in the final two minutes of the period.
 
LVC dominated possession in the second period and outshot the Knights 24-3 in the period, after shots were 6-6 after the first 20 minutes. The Dutchmen started right away in the period as Dale had a shot saved in the opening seconds. LVC continued to take shot after shot on the Neumann defense, but Noelle Woodard stood strong, making 12 saves in the first seven minutes of the period. The Knights also blocked two shots. LVC was finally able to break through the defense at 12:07 of the period as Brysha Schmidt scored her first goal of the season off an assist by Romano. The Dutchmen continued their flurry of shots on the net for the final seven minutes of the period but were unable to add to their lead. Woodward made an additional eight saves, and the Knights blocked four shots during the span.
 
The Dutchmen kept the momentum into the third period and earned a power play a little over a minute into the period. Dale had a pair of shots blocked, Taylert had two shots saved, and Pennino, Howson, and Romano all had a shot saved during the opportunity. LVC put seven shots on goal and had four shots blocked over the next five minutes. Laura Radford blocked a pair of shots at the other end of the ice before the LVC offense went back to work at the net with four more shots that were saved in a span of three minutes. The teams traded penalties over the middle of the period, and LVC found themselves a woman down with around five minutes left. The Knights took five shots during the power play opportunity, and LVC blocked all five. McCauliffe blocked two shots, Crouch blocked two shots, and Taylert blocked a shot. The Dutchmen were able to take advantage of a pair of Neumann penalties with a power play goal by Leela Nemani with a little over three minutes left in the game. Nemani tapped in a rebound off a shot from McCauliffe to give the Dutchmen a 3-1 lead. Neumann cut into the lead 20 seconds later as they scored off a faceoff with a quick shot that found the back of the net. The Knights pulled their goalie with around a minute left in the game for an extra attacker. Barrette made a save on a shot, McCauliffe blocked a shot, and then Anderson gathered the loose puck and fired into the back of the empty net to set the final score.
 
Inside the Box

• LVC took a season-high 53 shots. Taylert led the team with seven shots and scored for the third consecutive game.
• Schmidt scored her first goal as a Dutchman and seventh of her career. Her goal was the game-winning goal.
• Nemani scored her first goal of the year while Anderson scored her third.
• McCauliffe finished the game with three assists, her first three of the year.
• Barrette made 12 saves in goal. The goalie is now 2-0-0 in her career.
• Dale recorded a point for the fourth consecutive game to begin the season. Her assist gives her 21 in her career and four this season.
• Romano recorded her second assist of the season.
• The Dutchmen won 49 of 60 faceoffs. Anderson was an outstanding 20-4, Nemani went 11-1, and Romano went 10-4. Maeghan Howson won seven of her eight faceoffs.
• LVC has won its first four games of the season for the second straight year.

Up Next
The Dutchmen will face their toughest test of the season so far next weekend as they make the trip up to Wilkes-Barre to face nationally ranked Wilkes University in a battle of the two teams expected to finish atop the conference standings this year. The first game of the weekend series at the Toyota Sportsplex in Wilkes-Barre will be at 2 p.m. on Friday, Nov. 14.

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