NORTHFIELD, Vt. — A new Division III women’s hockey champion will be crowned Saturday, after a 3-2 win in double overtime by the Elmira Soaring Eagles ensured that Plattsburgh will not win a fifth consecutive title.
“It was an incredible hockey game and certainly could have gone either way,” Elmira coach Tim Crowley said.
Elmira trailed 2-0 entering the final period before a hat trick by junior left wing Shannon Stawinski earned victory for the Soaring Eagles.
Scoring began early for the Cardinals, with senior right wing Kayla Meneghin getting the opening goal 40 seconds into the game.
While Elmira goaltender Kelcey Crawford admitted that the goal was demoralizing, she was able to regain confidence and hold Plattsburgh to one goal at intermission.
“We’re only down one,” Crawford said. “We’ve gotten a goal before.”
Outshot 12-8 in the first, Elmira came out of the locker room prepared for a more even period.
“We were a little nervous, I thought, for the first 20,” Crowley said. “After that, I thought we started playing our style of play.”
Despite the improved play by Elmira, a goal by senior defenseman Lizzy Viola gave the Cardinals a 2-0 advantage after two periods.
Entering the third period, Crowley knew his team was prepared mentally to come back from the deficit.
“I think we have a good leadership group,” Crowley said. “They said a lot of great things before I even got in the locker room.”
A goal by Strawinski three minutes into the period brought the game to within one. Her play was the product of confidence in her team.
“I said going into this weekend that we weren’t losing, and that was the mindset from early on,” Stawinski said.
Strawinski scored again with 4:07 remaining in regulation to force overtime.
Plattsburgh regained composure after giving up the lead and outshot the Soaring Eagles 12-9 in the first overtime period. Crawford credited her team with helping her deal with the pressure.
“I think that it came from my team, them giving me a pat on the pads non-stop and saying ‘we’ll get one for you,'” Crawford said. “I knew that I just had to give them a little bit of time. I didn’t mind taking a few extra ones.”
After a scoreless first overtime, Strawinski completed the hat trick 15 minutes into the second extra period.
“That’s hockey,” Plattsburgh State head coach Kevin Houle said. “It’s a bounce of the puck. At the end of the day, they made their one count more than we did.”
The goal ended Plattsburgh hopes of earning a record fifth straight national championship.
“There’s no shame in losing,” Houle said. “It was going to happen sooner or later.”
After the first playoff loss of her career, Plattsburgh senior captain Melissa Sheeran hoped that the game would be a learning experience for the returning Cardinals.
“Remember how this feels, because you never want this feeling and you never want it to happen again,” Sheeran said.
The victory means Elmira will play in Saturday’s national championship game. Crowley was confident his team would be ready despite playing 95 minutes of hockey today.
“When the puck drops tomorrow we’re going to be prepared and ready to go, and certainly confident in this group,” Crowley said.
