The St. Lawrence University women’s hockey team was in Burlington, V.T. last weekend to participate in the Windjammer Classic at the University of Vermont. The women had come into the game versus Syracuse on Saturday Nov. 24 with a hunger to win given their loss against the University of Minnesota the previous night.

The eighth-ranked Saints scored an impressive four goals in the short time of ten minutes and four seconds, which shows the explosiveness potential of their offense. Rachael Smith ’19 was a key contributor for the offensive attack for the Saints, scoring two goals herself. Maggie McLaughlin ’20 scored one goal in the first eight minutes, then Charlea Pedersen ’21 scored another goal with slightly over two minutes to play in the period.

Although the offense was catching fire in the middle of the game, a shutout does not happen without terrific defense being played. “We battled for some pucks and converted on some opportunities to get some confidence in our game,” stated goaltender Sonjia Shelly ’19. Shelly made 20 saves, and 10 of them came in the third period. The Saints stepped up the intensity of their performance throughout the game. “We had a great response in the second period after Syracuse had the better of the play in the first,” stated Head Coach Chris Wells.

The St. Lawrence Women’s Hockey team has a record of nine wins, six losses, and one tie so far. However, they are the first in their conference with an undefeated record of four and zero. As the season goes on, if this team is able to maintain this high level of play, particularly in conference, then they will be able to secure a higher seed in their conference tournament in the short-term future which will increase their chances of success.

The Saints enter a crucial part of their season this upcoming weekend, as they will begin to get into the thick of their conference schedule. On Friday, Nov. 30, they travel to Ithaca, N.Y. to face Cornell University, and then the next day they travel to Colgate University in Hamilton, N.Y.

Those games will be critical to maintain their great record in their conference to set them up for success in the postseason. All of this being said, a commanding four to zero victory is a wonderful way to build momentum into conference play.